Not love at first sight
by FallenAngelItachi
Summary: Soulmate AU continued, sequel (but chronologically prequel) to Soulmates, with Saito and Tokio as the protagonists.
1. Year 1

**A/N** : I said I'd expand it, and here I am expanding it. Soulmate AU, Saito-centric, lots of shenanigans and though I find it hard to believe myself, I started him off during high school. It took me a while to imagine him like a high schooler and I don't know if I succeeded or not but damn thing wouldn't get out of my head.

* * *

"Are you kidding me right now? Your soulmate tattoo is nearly as convenient as timer-guy's!"

"I take offense at that; no one's tattoo is as convenient as timer-guy's."

"But you certainly wish it was, don't you?"

"Well duh!"

He could swear this was the most common conversation he ever heard around the school and about himself lately. It hadn't even been two months since high school started and yet he was the timer-guy already. Even seniors knew about it, it was disturbing. And way more than half the people who would invoke his nickname wouldn't know his real one—or what he looked like. That just goes further to show how the whole thing had taken a life of its own.

He sighed. Yet another school, yet another three years of his life to expect to be treated like this. Despite the fact it had started since he was in middle school, at least people there knew who he was. Not that he ever appreciated being referred to like that. He'd much rather be recognised for his other qualities but no one ever really cared until it was test time. If only he had a hundred yen every time someone called him that, he could pay off tuition in a foreign country.

Well, he didn't need to study in a foreign country though, not really; his profession of interest had cemented itself in his consciousness last year: he'd become a police officer. He had thanked his father for always pushing him to be more athletic than the average kid of his age, taking him or runs with him – his dad was a bit of a fitness nut – and signing him up for judo. He had a good physical condition anyway, as he rarely fatigued and he had a high tolerance to pain so he was perfect. And his sensei was relentless; Kondo was well-known for his friendly but hard-working attitude anyway, attracting parents and students from all over the prefecture. So he was very glad he never gave up; he even extended to swordsmanship because he was so gifted. So, the past ten years of his life turned out to be more profitable than he'd expect and he was bound to be accepted in the academy.

"You've no right to step into this conversation with me unless you're timer-guy, Tokio-chan. And last I checked you don't have a dick between your legs."

"TAMA-CHAN!" two girls exclaimed scandalised – and the second one a little angry, too – upon hearing those words escape the girls mouth. It happened just as he was entering the class, so he went completely undetected.

"Don't say such things out loud, it's so uncouth." The brunette continued, red as a tomato and Saito noticed she started playing with one of her pigtails to relieve the tension.

The other one though, was having none of that. "The hell do you even mean, I have no right? We can't all have super convenient soulmate tattoos on our person, okay? And you're not the queen of soulmate tattoos, chill the fuck out." She flipped her hair and Saito noticed the dark blue highlights peeking between the black. Heh, alternative much…! "Besides, what's the deal with these inky hellish things anyway? Feels like I'm branded, I hate it."

"Ah! You didn't!" the _other_ girl, Tama, now joined the brunette – Chiyo, if memory served him – in being scandalised and after a sharp intake of breath, they looked at each other as if agreeing about something silently.

"I didn't say anything world-changing, relax; I only said I feel like I'm branded. Don't you? Oh you're gonna meet this person there or there or then or tell him this or what the hell ever and all that comes from some ink on your body. Well, who cares?"

"You only say that because your soulmate tattoo keeps changing every month! Sometimes even more frequently." Tama accused Tokio, who gave her the "really now? Are you kidding me?" look.

"And why is it that she has no right to step into your conversation unless she's timer guy?"

Saito wouldn't have normally cared one bit for these girls' argument had the one not essentially bullied the other over this whole business. He was very touchy when it came to _them_ , the dreaded tattoos, out of his own experience. He didn't like his timer one bit. No one's tattoo should be so convenient, certainly life never is. No one ever told him his father would die on his twelfth birthday, while driving to his own son's birthday party; no one ever told him his mother would follow half a year later, due to cancer! These are things fate should foretell you about—not a _girlfriend_. But life doesn't work that way. And how unfair it was to have soulmate tattoos—it'd be better if you had tattoos that counted down to the last moments of the people you love so you knew to be with them and keep them company or show them out.

What a farce.

But when Tama-chan looked at him like a bug, pigtails girl widened her eyes embarrassed and Tokio half-glared half-turned to him curious, he felt an odd sort of satisfaction.

"You've no right to enter the conversation either," was all the flippant girl snapped and tried to exclude him from their circle with her body language, but he stopped her from turning away when he expertly supplied:

"But I **am** timer-guy. That's me." Now he had the girls' full attention with wide eyes and shock directed at him. "Well don't look so surprised" there was annoyance there, too "I am in the same class as you. You should know."

"You mean to tell me the guy who entered _third best_ and has the **best** records in PE is also the guy with the most famous and convenient soulmate tattoo ever? Really!? Aren't you a little OP? What else do you do? Your touch is healing and your tears bring back unicorns or some shit?"

Now, he wasn't sentimental, like ever, but one of the reasons he interjected was because she was being bullied – or so he thought apparently because at the moment she seemed perfectly capable of taking care of herself – and he did try to help her. A little bit of niceness could go a long way; but instead, she attacked him. So he curled his lips in a mocking manner and looked at her suggestively—even if her insults were actually funny.

"What is up with all the hostility _Tokio-chan_?" Even her ears turned red at the sound of the honorific. "Not so proud of your own academic and track achievements?"

"…not at all! If you must know, I placed _first_ in the entrance exam. Though not as gifted in track, my scores are the nation's average, maybe a little more to some, a little less to others." She was very confident yet very shy at the same time, looking away. "But it pisses me off to see so many achievements on one person."

"So I take it your soulmate tattoo sucks, by the way you didn't even mention it?"

"You know what," suddenly she stopped looking offended and looked surprised "you're not too OP after all…your personality is horrible." She flashed him a condescending smile and immediately reverted back to being annoyed.

"It's kind of unfair though," he continued, despite the fact he really didn't care about these girls' conversation anymore and he was only trying to mess with Tokio – he didn't even know why he was messing with Tokio – "you all know my tattoo—everyone does but I don't know yours." It seemed all three girls were decent enough people to feel bad at that; this was going better than he hoped! "So what are they?"

"I have a name and a date right here," Tama went first, actually proud, showing him her elbow.

"…I—I have a dog breed written…on my thigh…and a name." Chiyo said shyly, not quite looking at him.

"I have-…I _usually_ have a phrase on my neck." She inclined her head to the left and he could see letters under her ear.

" _Usually?_ " he pressed. This was actually becoming interesting.

She pursed her lips. "Yes; _usually_. Sometimes it's a type of food, others a lyric." His eyebrow raised and she knew what he was going to ask or say because she rolled her eyes as she sighed. " **Yes** ; it changes."

Now that's very interesting. "Why?"

"Would you stop pestering her?"

Despite Tama's interjection, he didn't let up with the inquisitive stare. Even the are-you-kidding-me-right-now glare Tokio shot him was not enough to deter him. She clicked her tongue with evident distaste and simply said "if I knew that, _she_ " pointing to Tama-chan with her thumb "wouldn't be acting like I have no say in this tattoo conversation."

He could see this was making her very uncomfortable; he also understood these girls were and had been friends for a long time so he was being impertinent. And although there were many interesting things he could and wanted to ask, he decided to stop being an asshole. "Wait; you said you placed first in the entrance exam? You're that number one chick the teacher's been driving us nuts about?"

"Why yes, I am!"

"You mean to-…wait." He stopped the hands that were about to reach into his schoolbag and take the notebook he came here for " _I'm_ not the class's representative. You and what's-his-face are; but I know for a fact he didn't place second. So what are the criteria for being the representative? I didn't think it was grades or performance since I was under the impression I was the best scoring student" all three girls rolled their eyes at his plainly-spoken self-compliment "but if you're better than me…"

Tokio explained that "we are chosen at random; if you volunteer you almost certainly get the spot since not many do."

"Why don't you know this dude? Where were you-?"

"He was absent first two days of school."

He smirked again. "Aren't _you_ quick to answer? Been keeping tabs on me?"

"As if; don't flatter yourself." She answered very coolly. "I simply take notice of things; I'm observant."

She was lying, he knew. He could tell by the way she momentarily scratched her nose; he could tell by the short aversion of the eyes. If _he_ weren't so observant he'd probably believe her though—she was very good at hiding it. "I see," was all he said.

Tama huffed. "So now that you're all up to speed, can you kindly leave us alone?"

He was about to snap he **was** heading for the door yet instead he stopped and looked at them. "Yeah, just a final question…does any of you write city names in kanji?"

"I do." Tokio admitted easily but became suspicious. "That's a random thing to ask, buddy."

He simply shrugged, as he disappeared behind the door, saying "I was just curious." giving them no chance to ask why.

When he left them alone, out of ear or eyeshot, he smirked. He thought he was the only one who did that, wrote city names in kanji, so when they gave him notes for the two days he missed, he was pleasantly surprised to find the person that gave them also had the same habit. They also had a very beautiful scroll and they even included haiku in some places, to make difficult things easier to understand. So he had gone on a little craze, trying to find who was the perpetrator – as they simply appeared on his desk, walking in to find them there when he arrived – but had come up empty handed. He'd asked every boy and two girls he was feeling comfortable with but they all said no and he actually peeked in some other girls' notes but he was still empty-handed.

And now she just admits it.

He should thank her…! Well, now it would be a little awkward to do so, so he decided to just do something nice for her. And butting in in their conversation before didn't count, that much he knew. Huh; this must have been the reason she knew he was absent—the teacher probably had her copy her notes for him, as one of the representatives. _What a good person._ And he might be a little sarcastic as well, he isn't sure.

.

.

"Yo, Tokio, lend me a pencil."

"What is this? The high and mighty Saito Hajime lost his?"

"That, or I'm selling stationery on the side."

She tried not to laugh albeit little unsuccessfully – she spit out before she could cover her mouth – and offered the pencil, accompanied by a rubber. "I'm feeling merciful," she added arrogantly when he pretended to be surprised by it.

"In that case can you lend me your notes, too? I'll only take a minute."

"Dude, you have to stop this; don't be lazy. Keep your own notes."

"I'm not lazy you just keep better notes than me. And you must be one of the few people whose notes I can easily follow, so keeping my own notes makes it automatically unproductive."

She made a face. "For you maybe!"

"Don't complain; I just paid you a compliment."

"Oh well, if you paid me a compliment, I'll just bake you a cake, too!"

"Now you're just being mean."

She rolled her eyes, but conceded, handing him her notebook. "Want it back today, okay?"

"When have I ever-?"

The question died in his throat at her knowing look, because they both knew he'd be lying if he kept talking. He had given them back late a lot of times these last three months. Ever since he found out it was her, he kept borrowing and borrowing notes and once or twice got her in trouble because he forgot it or didn't give it back in time – and she was far too mortified the one time he produced her notebook for the teacher in front of the entire class – . So he simply smiled at her, trying to act innocent.

"Before the break ends, yes?"

"I'll have them back before fifteen minutes are up." He stated as he was disappearing behind the door.

"Don't make promises you can't keep~!" she warned yet again in a sing-song voice. Seconds later, Tama-chan walked in, causing Tokio to smile. "Hey _Tama-tan_ ; how's the ankle?"

"Healing." She admitted bitterly.

"Told you; shouldn't have tried to do that backflip."

"It was supposed to be easier," she bit out annoyed.

"I still warned you."

"You always warn me; if I listened to you, I wouldn't do anything."

"And you'd have saved both face and an ankle—and many more things…"

"I hate you right now."

Tokio's retort never left her lips though, as two strange students walked into the class. Both were male and of the right age, but they both wore another school's uniform. It wasn't a gakuran like theirs, but a blue and red tie and a beige cardigan. The one looked younger than them but he wore the same clothes as the other, much taller boy who looked older, so they must have been both in high school at least.

Both girls looked at them hard, but Tokio reacted immediately. Seeing she was the class representative – at least one of the two – she stood smiling. "Hello; are you looking for someone?"

"Ah yes!" the shorter boy with the light brown hair replied and smiled back. "We're looking for our friend, Saito Hajime. We heard he's in this class."

"Oh! He is, yes; he'll be right back, just stepped outside. You don't have to stand at the door though, he's not even ready anyway. Come inside and-."

"I'm Kyouka Tama-chan," her friend interjected, locking on to the tall one. "Pleasure to meet you."

He was very tall – taller than Saito, and he was nearing 1.85 –; he had a serious face but a very handsome one, angular too. His features were very traditional in a good way. He was thin but she would bet not as thin as his buggier clothes made him look—Tokio could see his bare forearms and they were muscular. No wonder Tama-chan had jumped him like that! Especially when today was the day she was supposed meet her soulmate. Now if only his name was Matsuda…

"I'm Okita Souji, he's Hijikata Toushijou," the shorter, obviously the more chipper than the two, answered her brightly. "We're very happy to meet you, too. And you are?"

"Takagi Tokio," she informed with a slight inclination of the head, trying not to smile too widely at her friend's sour expression of disappointment when she heard the names – lest they interpret it as interest in them –.

"Oh! So you're Tokio-chan!" _**chan**_? "Saito's told us about you!"

"…he has-?"

" ** _He has_**?"

Tama's question was heard before hers, full of interest and innuendo, in contrast with Tokio's suspicious one. She tried not to be too annoyed by her friend.

"Yes!" At the ever hyper tone and eagerness oozing off of him, Hijikata gave him a strict look and Okita coughed and turned the volume a little down, never losing the smile. "Yes, he mentioned you once because you scored better than him and since then we sort of ask him about you; he doesn't talk too much about school so it was interesting."

"Ah, he doesn't talk all that much in general."

"In fact, he talks so little about himself, we didn't even know he had friends. We always sort of supposed he socialised out of a sense of duty."

"Tama-chan," Tokio scolded "that's just his personality." Tama stuck her tongue out – in an attempt to be cute, because Tama never did that – and before Tokio could roll her eyes, she simply turned to the boys. After another polite smile, she asked "so how do you know each other? And what school are you from?"

"We're from the Nakano Technical High School,"

"Not too far from here, okay." Tama spoke her mental note out loud.

"-and we go to the same dojo."

"Dojo? That's very interesting!" Tama continued and Tokio this once did smile as she shook her head.

"An, not really; we just learn how to protect ourselves with judo and our sensei teaches us the sword, too."

"Wow, don't give that man more weapons! His gift of _tongue_ is enough."

In a rare show of emotion, Hijikata smiled at Tokio's very natural remark when Okita laughed. "You do know him a little, Tokio-chan," he managed to say.

"Don't have to know him too well to figure that out."

"Too true-oh! Saito! You're here!"

That was how everyone was alerted to the boy returning, through his friend's exclamation. Both girls' heads turned to the door and was it her idea or did the attention made him uncomfortable?

"…I thought we said you'd wait by the gate." He said it uncaringly but she could tell he _really_ cared.

"Well, break started earlier and we were already here and-"

"-you were curious."

Not perturbed at all, Okita smiled brightly. "Well, yes." Making his friend shake his head.

"No harm, we were just talking." Tokio supplemented when he handed her notebook back and awkward silence seemed to have filled the air between the five of them.

"I bet."

She continued like she hadn't heard him. "Didn't know you went to judo—though that does explain the good PE records."

"Don't be jealous, Miss National Average."

"I'm not jealous," she replied rolling her eyes "I just made a comment. I mean, I'm not good at sports but I'm not bad at it either and knowing it's an area I never put any effort in, I'm more than pleased. I just said it makes sense you are good since you've been involved in martial arts for…how long?"

"Since I was five."

"Ten years!? Okay, ten years; long time…do you guys ever go to, like, athletic meets or something? I mean if you trouble yourselves for so long, you're bound to make something out of it."

"Of course we do!" Okita announced. "Every year; and we place really well."

Tokio smiled; his cheeriness was contagious. "Really? That's great! Good for you."

"How well?" Tama-chan had to ask, out of curiosity.

"First-five-places-nationally well; we are very gifted! And our sensei, Kondo-san, he's young—30 maybe, so he knows how to teach us and everything."

"That's…that's really cool. Hope you do well this year, too."

Okita had that ominous glint in his eyes and Saito knew he was about to say something embarrassing and tried to stop him…but didn't manage to speak before him, so Okita suggested: "You know Tokio-chan our first meet is in two weeks from now; 28th of December! You should totally come see us, cheer for us; we'll be very happy to have you both. And it will be a big relief to finally have at least one girl on our side who isn't there for Hijikata-sempai!"

A smothered laugh escaped Tokio who knew exactly the type girl he was talking about – one of her best friends served as an example – and made great effort not to be disrespectful to Hijikata who was torn between showing amusement or offense that Okita dragged him into this.

"So that's why you're leaving early. And thank you for the offer, but I think it'd be awkward-"

"Nonsense! We never had one of Saito's friends there before! I mean, we are his friends but we participate, too so it's not the same. But you'll be one of the crowd so it's different."

"That day one of my best friends also has a meet she's asked me to go watch—she's in archery. If she's done by the time you start, I'll come cheer for you!"

"Great! We'll be at the main prefecture gymnasium around…8 pm?"

"Oh! I **can** make it; hers is there at 6. Alright; we'll come!"

"You're so nice Tokio-chan!"

Saito started to feel somehow boxed in by all the developments. He didn't hate the idea of Tokio being there per se, but it wasn't something he would expect and he hated the unexpected. "Yes yes, let's go now." He shooed both his friend and himself, pushing Okita from the shoulders to the exit.

"Don't forget to cheer for me, too, ne?"

A chuckle. "Bye Okita-san!"

Once they were safely out the door, Tama sat in front of her friend, fire in her eyes. "Why does Saito have such hot friends!? It's not fair!"

"There there."

"And they actually knew you, hah, what's up with that? Think Saito maybe have a soft spot for you?"

Tokio rolled her eyes but shook her head. "They said he considers me a friend so it's normal. I mean, he's always so snarky I don't know how he thought of me but apparently we are friends. That's nice; I do like him. He's a cool guy. Kinda scathing…but cool."

"Well, he's friendlier to you that's why. He's still mean to me; and he calls Chiyo-chan pigtails girl! Very embarrassing." But Tokio was already laughing and something told Tama she was probably in agreement. "Okay, she does always make her hair into pigtails but he doesn't have to be so mean."

"He calls me everything and anything that comes to his head so I don't care. I do relate however."

"Though you're cool too I guess; I mean _, all_ the guys like you. I don't mean romantically but, like, "Takagi-san is a cool person" kind of thing. Maybe it's because you're like this."

"Maybe; or maybe because I don't make their ears go numb talking about my perfect soulmate or amazing grades…!"

"Just go be sassy with Saito, you prick."

The two girls laughter could be heard all the way from the hallway…exactly were Saito was standing. He had forgotten something but when he heard his name, he had stopped. And then they said all of that and knew he couldn't go back but…he listened. And without realising, he smiled. He just made a friend. How fortuitous Okita decided to invade his class because if he hadn't, he still wouldn't know what to call her.

Today was a good day.

.

.

"Tokio-chan, did you really have to drag me into this as well?"

"Shut up Chiyo, we're doing you a favour! You didn't see his friends; but when you do, I'm sure you'll change your mind about dragging you here."

"So it wasn't Tokio-chan who insisted, it was you from the beginning."

"Well duh."

"What does your soulmate say about it, I wonder?"

"What he doesn't know, won't hurt him."

Tokio huffed, taking a seat. "Just sit your asses down. Besides weren't we just watching An-chan, Chiyo? She even said she'd come meet us and sit through the judo competition because she likes it."

"They better be very good looking and very gifted," Chiyo warned, fixing her pigtails like it was a threat.

They sat there and waited in silence till the announcer made his presence known through the speakers, welcoming everyone to the competition and going along with the formalities; the lighting changed to allow the martial artists to make it on stage and bow to the audience and one another.

Meanwhile the three girls were frantically looking all around for them, through the throngs of identically dressed people. Tokio was very excited already, but she was also curious to see how Saito looked in that traditional garb. Tama-chan next to her was working overtime as well, but it was Chiyo who spotted him first.

"Wow, Saito looks very mature in his uniform," was her casual comment and when both girls started bombarding her with the question "where?" she showed the first row, tenth person.

Tama chuckled. "Heh, you're right; ah there's Okita, the small guy on his right. Ooooooh, see the gorgeous guy two places left? That's Hijikata!"

"The long haired guy?"

"Yes!"

"…He _is_ gorgeous!"

"I know right!"

As her friends proceeded to make comments about Hijikata's fine face and how built he must have been underneath that uniform, Tokio was putting all of her energy into making their presence known to the three boys. Okita was the only one looking her way so she frantically waved till his eye caught the movement. When he did, she smiled brightly, teeth and all, but waved less enthusiastically in fear she'd poke anyone's eye out.

Saito glanced at his friend and saw Okita was trying not to smile while looking at the bleachers; he followed his eyes and spotted Tokio smiling and waving at him. When she realised Saito saw her, too, she turned to him and did the same, a little more animatedly. "Good luck" she mouthed and "do your best". When he mimicked something like rolling his eyes but not quite, she gave him a thumbs up, knowing he had seen her.

Just then, Saito felt something at his ribs and saw that Souji had elbowed him; the boy gave him a look. "She came," he told his friend in a hushed but devilish tone.

"Don't be too happy; now I'm compelled to do better than you."

"Just to show off to Tokio?"

"Her and the other two as well; I have a reputation to uphold at school after all."

"Right," he drawled teasingly.

"Shut up, we're starting."

.

.

"Oh my god! Did you see that!? Did you see it? He just…swung him over!"

"And he's even a foot shorter!"

"Okita is really impressive, especially because of his size."

Chiyo developed an easy crush on Okita so she was quick to gush over him once the fighting had ended; she would cheer and clap and whistle excitedly while the fighting was happening, but now she was free to detail her impressions. As much as she could anyhow. Tama-chan was quick to jump in the bandwagon because then she knew it wouldn't be too obvious when she gushed about Hijikata. And An-chan, their tallest and oldest friend, a girl of 17 years old, long brown hair and a non-committal gaze, ever the athlete, was happy to comment on these men's abilities.

"Right? Right?"

"I loved how Hijikata won every game so easily, too." Tama changed the subject – deflating Chiyo in the process – and giggled. "If he can throw men like those around so easily you can only guess how much easier he'd lift a girl up."

"You said Hijikata right? So I did see well. I knew about Okita but I had no idea about Hijikata; we go to the same school, all three. Hijikata is in my class, in fact."

"Really?" That was all news to Tama who was quick to lap it up! "How is he?"

"Well, you've seen him."

"Personality-wise, genius!"

"Mmm, he's okay; doesn't talk much, serious…like always. But he blushes a lot." After a moment of silence, all three girls burst out laughing, leaving their older friend bewildered. "Wha-he blushes! He does, very much so!"

"I can't picture that guy _blush_."

"I can, but not a lot; maybe a couple of times." Tokio offered. "But I can totally buy him being so serious all the time. He just has one of those faces. By the way, I swear to god, I had no idea judo was so intense. I never watched any before! And Saito is very skilled, like one hit k.o. every point. "

"Duuuuude, Saito was lethal! You couldn't even see how exactly he moved, he was so fast!" An commented impressed. "Hijikata was very good and Okita was visually impressive but Saito has some real skill—he's just not flashy, like his friends."

Tokio nodded, adding: "True; I'm kind of scared how easily he dispatched them all. Though this does explain why, when a bunch of delinquents from another school came for one of our classmates, they never managed to make any trouble. I had seen Saito intercept them at a hallway and I believe he led them outside…where he proceeded to beat the living daylights out of them, apparently."

"Hahahahaha I had no idea about that! Tokio how do you even remember or pay attention to these things, I never do I swear to god…"

"That's why I'm class representative and you aren't, Tama-chan."

"No fair!"

Two voices were heard saying the exact same thing but with many differences; the biggest one must have been one was male and the other female; the one came from next to them but the other from behind. And the complaining but cheerful tone made everyone realise it must have been Okita who spoke, so they all spun around together.

And they were right! The three boys were heading towards them, still in their uniforms. They were sweaty and tired but very happy. And how could they not be? They just advanced to nationals. Still, Okita was pouting at Saito who looked like the cat who ate the canary and Hijikata simply walked next to them, serious as always.

"You rarely beat me in these meets; it's no fair one of these instances was today. The girls were watching!"

"Maybe their presence distracted you more than you realised."

He puffed up his cheeks at his friend's satisfaction. "No fair; they were even cheering more for you and Hijikata." He averted his eyes – probably because that was a big lie and he knew it – and that's when he spotted them. "Ah! The girls; we reached them. Hey Tokio-chan, Tama-chan…An-sempai! Wow what are you doing here? Are you, girls, friends? And who is this lovely girl?"

At the sight of her, Hijikata's eyes became just a fraction wider and seemed to…turn a little red. Did he just blush? "An-san," he said anyhow, always polite, inclining his head a little.

"This is Chiyo, Okita-kun, Hijikata-san! Hello, hello; I had my own competition just before and since the girls said they'll be sticking around for more, I decided to join them. And yes, we are friends! Been living in the same apartment complex since ever. Though I didn't know your meet was today; and I had no idea Hijikata-san participated, too."

"…I wasn't hiding it…it just never came up."

"Hahahaha, you weren't broadcasting it either though! Anyhow, anyhow, don't think I'm accusing you of anything. You do whatever you want!"

"…I really wasn't hiding it."

"I believe you, don't worry; really."

He spoke no more; he gave a little nod and returned to his silent mode, though the faint pinkness on his cheeks remained. Tokio gave a strange look and then looked at the pair of them twice; what was going on here? Hijikata had barely uttered a single word when they met him—he was being…verbose with An-chan though. Now that was interesting. Saito must have caught her at it because he smiled in a knowing way.

Chiyo coughed to cover for the awkwardness creeping up on them and took the lead. "So why are you here? Came to tell us something or…?"

"Before that," Tokio started, her tone scolding to her friend "congratulations for advancing on the next stage! You guys were amazing; you are very good at what you do and you should be proud. It was very kickass."

"Thank you," they chorused, bowing altogether – exchanging slight smiles at their synchronization – "you are too kind."

"We are not judges, geez don't lower your heads!" Tama-chan said in a tone that implied she actually liked what they did.

"We are here to thank you for coming. Thank you for accepting our invitation and thank you for taking the time to watch us to the end." Okita spoke for all of them and once more they bowed. "And we'd love to go somewhere with you and grab a bite but we have a tradition that-"

"Don't explain yourselves, please!" Tokio seemed mortified at the thought they were under the impression they somehow had to "make it up" to them. "We came because we wanted to, no one forced us. So please, do whatever you normally do after competitions, please." All of the girls murmured their agreement – others less willing than some –.

"Then please accept our thanks and if you'll excuse us…"

"Ah, Saito! Can I ask you a question before you go? I'll only be a minute." She saw him look back at her and then at his friends, seeking permission and when both motioned it was fine, only then did he go to her side. Tokio at the same time turned to the girls saying "just go, I'll catch up."

When both teams of people were out of earshot, Tokio's expression turned devilish. "Does Hijikata-san like An-chan?"

The smirk on his face said yes, but his hands crossing in front of his chest said no. "And where did you get that impression I wonder?"

"He _blushed_!" Saito tried not to smile. "And he even spoke to her without being goaded into it and he blushed before his name was even brought up! He likes her, doesn't he? They go to the same school, same class, both athletic…he likes her."

"…it's a little more complicated than that but yes, I too believe he likes your friend. He talks about her in a positive way."

"Heeeeh; how is it complicated?"

"…" He was reluctant to speak, but something inside him drove to confine in her; he leaned a little further in. "She's his soulmate." Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped a little. "But he won't tell her because her tattoo wasn't gone the day he met her as his was; so in fact, one could say Hijikata is-."

"Afraid to tell her. Who would have thought he of all people wouldn't have confidence with women, huh? Alright…but does he actually like her or is it just because she's his-"

"He likes her." he cut in full of confidence and he found he actually liked the way she differentiated between liking someone because you liked them or just because they were supposed to be your soulmates. It matched well with his own beliefs and he appreciated that.

"Aww that's cute; but tell him to have confidence. I know _for a fact_ her soulmate tattoo was erased that day—she just redid it. She said she didn't want the guy to know because they are too young and he seemed _very serious so who knows what he'll do_?" she mimicked her friend almost perfectly. "And if that doesn't scream Hijikata I don't know what does." That seemed to make him feel better because he genuinely smiled at the sound of that. "So…our friends are soulmates. That's nice. Just make sure he doesn't propose to her tomorrow; she'll probably kick his ass. Or try to anyway—he doesn't seem the type to take a beating."

Saito laughed; really actually laughed. She chuckled surprised and looked at him wondered but surprisingly in a good mood. "I'll make sure. Bye Tokio; and thanks for coming today."

"You're very welcome," was all she said while waving goodbye.

All she could think about though was what she just found out. Who would have thought two people so different – the proper and serious Hijikata-san – soulmate and in love with her loud, very improper and always unlady-like An-chan.

Opposites attract after all…

.

.

.

The incident of them going to see their meet, set a precedent between the group and ever since, every time they had to go to a thing like that the girls would follow; it gave an excuse to Hijikata to flirt with An and vice versa – as they still didn't have the nerve to confess for one reason or the other –. It also gave a good ground for the five of them to really become friends and get to know each other much better. Though Tama-chan would at times bring her boyfriend slash soulmate it usually was just them but it became sort of apparent who were the ones who matched better: besides the obvious Hijikata – An, who had a good relationship despite their so different personalities, Okita seemed to get better along with the shy Chiyo by trying to get her out of her shell. It worked for the most part, as Chiyo was becoming more sociable and open as time went by and Tama-chan was a good third addition to that party.

But what really was unexpected for the girls, though shouldn't be really – if you asked the boys – was how well Tokio and Saito seemed to get on. They were being very snappy to one another and would usually argue about the smallest of things, but they never really seemed to mind. It was odd—but was it? Both people were very confrontational and actually enjoyed the back and forth. There was also the fact they were so smart, they could hold conversations for a long time. Also, they seemed to appreciate and respect each other's opinion without it being said as just a formality.

That of course led to both being class representatives once the other boy said he'd quit and poor souls the other classes' representatives if they ever decided to ask for something these two were championing for their own benefit; they were impossible to win against. Also, their study sessions became famous in a heartbeat; once Tokio realised why he kept asking her notes, they decided to study together whenever they could. If one saw them at the library together, hunched over a notebook and speaking in fervent but hushed whispers, that was it; saw them walking to a park together, they were going to study there.

So far so, once Tokio invited him over to her house, with the girls.

That was it. Ever since, they never studied elsewhere other than her place. With her parents usually there – her father continuously checking on her and her mother laughing at her husband in her hand – and sometimes her friends present, they would always do homework in her room, him on the floor, her on her bed. It was one of those study nights she finally decided to ask.

They'd just finished solving a difficult math problem, _finally_ getting it right. So exhausting it was, they both refused to do anything else even remotely related to schoolwork. They melted into the surroundings, taking long breaths and sighs.

"Saito," she drawled "you've been gone from your home too much; your parents must hate me."

"…if they were still around, maybe; I lost them when I was twelve. Accident; illness."

She was left staring. She expected a snarky remark, a sarcastic response or something, but he just came out and said something so personal, so easily. And without even looking away. That couldn't be normal…she realised he must have personal circumstances to be this far from home so many hours every day but she didn't see that coming—not the actual answer, but the bluntness of him. She felt like an asshole, too.

"I'm sorry…I didn't know. M, my condolences."

"Thank you."

She decided not to let the silence go on for long in fear it'll become too awkward for her. "…so you live with another relative or…?"

"Gran's been taking care of me but I don't live with her, no; she lives in Yokohama."

"Ah. That's not too far."

"She visits every two days. Cooks me something nice, helps with the cleaning…it's alright."

"…if you have an apartment all to yourself then why in earth are you putting up with my dad and don't just tell me to come over?"

He chuckled at her simple-mindedness, maybe even the way her brain worked; but he chose to smirk instead and close his eyes. Leaning back on the soft fabric of the blanket, he rolled his shoulders. "Exactly because we'd be all alone, I thought it prudent not to invite you over; I also bet your father would have a heart attack, if he ever found out and you don't look like the type to be able to keep a secret."

"Oh hush! I can keep a secret if I so desire."

"Cannot."

"Oh yeah? Then how-?" She was about to snap something, but clearly decided against it. It piqued his interest but said nothing. "Change of subject," she stated "did you know you scored second best on the last test?"

"I haven't beaten you yet that's why I didn't mention it."

"Heeeh, you won't be able to beat me Saito; not once."

He chuckled. "We'll see next test; I'll take first seat."

"First of all, you'll never be able to overtake me. Ever. Secondly, you're first at everything else, don't be greedy. Even your bloody tattoo is better than anyone else's."

Ah. She said it. She finally said it. She mentioned the tattoo, one on one, in his face. And what's more, it was done in a bitter way. It clearly showed some sort of jealousy. He hadn't pegged her the type, too—maybe something happened to her pertaining to that. He decided to ask.

"Are you jealous Tokio?"

"No…!"

Oh, she sounded honest. Then "what is it?"

"Nothing, it's just…this is not about you, it's about me, my tattoo. It…it drives me crazy."

"How so?"

Somehow, both people felt it; his guarded tone, his much more careful approach. He was shielding himself, he was ready to judge her, or more accurately, he was about to judge her views and the status of their relationship. They could go from friends to acquaintances with just one wrong word; or they could go from friends to being better friends, all depending on how she'd answer. She felt it clearly…but she wouldn't say anything she didn't believe in. She liked him, yes, but what's the point of lying to someone just so you can have them around? Then they don't like you for you, but for some version of you that matches their interests. And then you can't be yourself.

So she preferred being disliked for what she believed in than the opposite. She took a deep breath.

"The damned thing is always changing. I don't know why it does it…Tama-chan once said fate can't decide who to put me with, so till the day that happens, it'll keep on changing. I don't believe that because frankly it sounds a little moronic and too fatalistic but…I frigging hate the attention it brings. And lately people have been noticing it a lot; it always happens when exams are close—probably has to do with the way I incline my head when I read or something. And usually it's fine, I don't care all that much but…the older I get, the nastier the comments. And I feel so _disgusted_."

She hid her face in her hand but ended up pinching the bridge of her nose. "Grown ass men, you know; don't they have anything better to do? And the venom on some people's mouth…so yes I'm jealous of your tattoo, I'm jealous of the fact everyone only has good things to say about it, because that distances you from them personally. You're just timer guy. I'm…that frivolous girl with the tattoo that's always changing. And that's being _extremely_ nice."

She let out a strangled scream of desperation as she fell flat on her face on her cushy bed. "I hate soulmate tattoos."

All his life…all his life he hadn't realised. There was not a single person who didn't want to be him—they were all jealous of his infinitely convenient tattoo and how lucky he was to get it. He never had any positive feelings towards it and they turned negative once he saw just how much more attention people paid on that, rather his own achievements and then his parents died and it all sort of spiralled downwards from there.

But he never realised he was lucky. It could have been so much worse—all the attention could be negative, the tattoo different. He could be looked down upon, instead of overlooked; he honestly could tell, right in that moment, he finally saw his predicament in a whole different light. He saw Tokio in a whole different light.

"…don't worry," he comforted her without even thinking "I hate them, too."

She raised her head to find his only centimetres away; the way they were positioned, she'd look directly into his, so she could tell: he was being honest with her. He accepted her. That resounded so deep within her, the echoes brought tears to her eyes. After so many years, someone understood but what's more, _agreed_. He sympathised. Battling to keep the tears back, but failing once or twice, she buried her face in her blanket and covered it with her hands.

"You may be the only one," she managed to get out, though the crying could be heard in her voice.

So for the second time that night, he did something he nearly never did: comforted her again. "…It goes without saying, but you're much more than some dirt on your skin. You're you; and even if you couldn't be you exactly like this without it, it still doesn't define you. It's just another part of you."

She stopped crying, ears burning. He was being so kind, it made her blush. "…you, too; the Saito I know is ten times better than _timer-guy_."

His heart did an odd thing where it skipped a beat; he was suddenly knocked figuratively back by an unprecedented warm emotion and felt he couldn't breathe properly. Without realising, he spoke the words he wanted spoken to him and…she returned the favour and actually told him: he was much more than what others would stereotype him as. Collecting himself fast, he smirked at her and snorted.

"Even the snarky part?"

She giggled, feeling giddy from all the excitement. "Especially the snarky part."

* * *

 **A/N** : Part one is over and I'm really thinking hard on how to post this. Meh, never mind. No matter what choice I make I'll feel like it's the wrong one. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this little prelude and hang on to your seats for the rest. Do tell me what you thought of it.


	2. Year 2

**A/N** : This came easier than expected but killed me while writing it. I have little time right now so at a point my eyes were just shutting on their own, I was so tired! But I pulled through because I love these two and inspiration strikes at the oddest of times and here you have the second chapter you wonderful people. Thank you all you wonderful people who review but special thanks to **legalronin** who basically kept my enthusiasm fed for these two.  
Love you darling.

By the way: WARNING. This chapter is huuuuge.

* * *

"You're getting your tests back today, people; look alive."

The homeroom teacher of their second year of high school was a middle aged bespectacled man with dirty blond hair; half-Japanese, half-Russian, he has always been popular amongst students and staff alike. It wasn't a misplaced feeling of like, since he was a very smart and kind man, always tending to the needs of his students and making life easier for the rest of the teachers when he could help it. His main subject was math, too and he was great at it—both Tokio and Saito, the top two scoring students of their grade, were in agreement.

Being a homeroom teacher of course, he handed in all of the tests they took, taking notes and advising students on what to do, where they should improve or just congratulate them on performing so well. But this day, something different happened. As the teacher handed Saito and Tokio, who were now sitting next to each other, their tests back, he gave a small knowing smile to both. In fact, despite them being in the third row, he gave theors back last and actually waited.

As usual, they showed each other their scores, comparing. But this once, Tokio's smile froze; her eyes widened and soon enough her mouth hang and—

"Oh my god; Saito took first place!"

The whole class stared for a numb second, looking between the two competing individuals. Everyone knew of their little feud and every single time they all waited for the results. And this once…all hell broke loose! People cheering, the ones behind and in front of them patting both on the back – one for congratulations, the other for support – and making a ruckus!

"Would you look at that…" Saito commented through the noise, close enough so only she could hear.

Changing a hundred emotions in such a short span, from embarrassed, to annoyed, to disappointed, to _determined_ , glaring at him, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and pouted. "You defeated me, but don't let it get to your head; it's only this once."

"Congratulations to both," the teacher said and then his volume increased "and I'm very happy you're all joining in your classmates' triumph, but it's time to settle down now, settle down."

They did, but the remaining mirth lasted for some moments, minutes, longer. People nudging, smiling and looking left or right. Tokio was decidedly looking forward—looking forward to the next test the future would bring so she could reclaim her throne. But she was too absorbed in her mental images to notice Saito trying to get her attention, so he opted for the next best thing: he scribbled down in a piece of paper and threw it at her face, just as the teacher turned around.

It hit her on the nose – the only reason she noticed –. Looking down on what fell on her, she saw the little ball of paper. Untangling the mess, she saw it was a message from a very familiar hand-writing sample. It simply wrote:

 _There's a new reign now._

Her eyes narrowed at the thing, but Saito knew it was in fact directed at him. Frantic, she took a pencil and added her own message, carefully passing it back to him. It only read:

 _You wish!_

She'd be damned if she didn't get her spot back, so she worked that much harder to reclaim it. She wasn't studying _more_ – she was already putting in a lot of hours and she couldn't be bothered to add to them – but she was studying harder, smarter. Saito showed her a couple of tricks for maximum absorption for the same amount of time and they had really helped! Apart from her own haiku that she always did, he taught her ways to use acronyms as well as colour or music related themes. What with all the ungodly amount of time he spent at the dojo training, he was a master of time-saving specialities.

So next time they had to take exams, she was sure to beat him.

"You know Tokio-chan, if you're aiming to be better than someone else, it usually helps _not studying with them_!"

Tama finally burst out during one of their study-sessions. All five of them – Saito, Tokio, Tama, Chiyo and Okita – were in Tokio's house, occupying the dining room because her room could no longer contain them all. Her parents were still at work, working overtime, so they had the place to themselves.

"But he's always studied with me and it never turned out to be a problem before. It'd be too petty to blame it on that now."

Okita and Chiyo chuckled but it was the male who pointed out: "Besides, isn't he helping with all the tricks he's been showing her? He's working against himself, too."

"Yeah you're right." Chiyo realised.

Tama realised it at the same time. "…what's with you two!?" she burst out again. "Both of you are sabotaging yourselves, this is such a ridiculous feud to have. If you wanna beat the other person then don't help them. I'm not saying you should do something to make the other fail, no; just. Don't. Help each other!"

"So mean, Tama-chan." Okita commented.

"It's called being reasonable."

"But we've been studying together for so long, I hardly remember how to do it alone." Saito complained, perfectly honest.

"And to be fair, I learn better when he's around, too; it's a similar gain kind of situation, so there's no problem. And after all the trouble I went through to finally decide on a profession in the future, I deserve to be in my top condition."

"What kind of profession d'you choose for yourself, Tokio-chan?"

The two boys were genuinely interested in her as they had never really talked about this before, ever; Saito didn't know if she was doing it on purpose, but even if she weren't, he'd chosen not to push it and said nothing. But now she was breaching the subject on her own…! Not that she had any room to answer, as both girls literally abandoned all formality and whatever they were doing, to dive in for a hug! Knocking her out of her chair and tumbling to the floor, they made excited noises!

"Tokio you finally decided!"

"I'm so happy for you, oh my god!"

"Me, too I'm so, so happy!"

And similar things were said from both of the girls, keeping her close and squeezing.

After about a minute of Tokio hugging back and petting their backs, they let go of one another _finally_ and Saito couldn't help but maybe feel a little jealous of how easily people of the same gender could break social norms like that and _not_ be considered inappropriate – not that he had any idea where that thought came from or why –.

"So what did you decide?" Saito asked for good measure, in case his friend's question was forgotten.

"Psychology."

"What an odd choice!" Okita commented.

"Mum's a psychiatrist and it's always been sort of close to me; but psychiatric is a little bit of a cold science. I prefer the one who speaks to people—the one just before you have to resort to meds."

Saito curled his lips very proud of himself for what he was about to say. "Seems like a messiah complex in the making."

She glared. "Oh hush; I know I can't save everyone. But if just one person who would walk into my office could finally come to terms with at least one thing they were fighting against, I'll be happy."

"You're about to enter a very thankless job but surprisingly with the right attitude," Saito kept saying, thoughtful.

"You are aiming both very high and very low at the same time Tokio-chan, amazing." Okita joined his friend in teasing her.

Tama fumed! "She'll do great, you trolls! Stop messing with her just as she finally decided."

"Yeah, what about you two, huh? Did you decide on a career yet?"

Okita considered. "…not yet. I'm in between two but I'll know for sure once the practical exams in both will be done. But both will have to do with engineering."

"Right, you're at a technical high school," Chiyo reasoned. "And you Saito-san?"

"Police officer."

He said it without even thinking; all the girls looked quite impressed with his resolve and the choice of occupation. "You seem determined; how long have you known that's what you want to do?"

The fact it was Tokio who said that made him want to tease her, but in the end his own need to show off changed his mind. "Three years now. I just knew that was my calling."

"You knew it was your calling when you were thirteen? How in earth?"

Tama asked him without thinking and well, it was a reasonable enough question, but the way Okita looked suddenly a little uncomfortable and maybe anxious, reminded Tokio how his parents had already died by then…and maybe they were the reason. An odd protective feeling took over the young girl.

"Things happened in my life that urged me to seek out the police's help and there were some very…inspiring people there. That's when I knew this was the kind of thing I wanted to do."

"…why did a thirteen year old-?"

Tokio's new-found feeling spurred her into action. "Tama-chan, you asked; he answered. Don't pester him anymore." She really hoped this didn't sound as prickly as it sounded in her head or else she'd be in trouble. "That aside, I always thought you'd pursue a career in law, as a prosecutor. Or a common lawyer! Can't quite picture you in that uniform…or with a gun! You have enough weapons as it is: the sword, martial arts—the fact you exist…"

He chuckled. "Don't be like that; I don't wanna be a police officer to shoot at people anyway."

"Why _do_ you wanna be a police officer then?"

"…like I said, it's a calling, I guess. People getting away with things they shouldn't, people doing terrible things to others, thinking it's okay because the victims will be too afraid to even report the crime…I hate those kind of people. I hate people who hurt others only because it's fun or even worse, just because they can."

But there was something deeper; the girls stared as the silence grew.

"We used to be in the same class all throughout elementary school you know," Okita started and just for once, his smile wasn't reaching his eyes "and exactly because we were learning martial arts, we weren't allowed to use them on untrained students. But there were these kids you see, they didn't like us. I was very popular with the teachers-,"

"And the girls, too which was what bothered them the most." Saito interjected for just a moment.

"…and most of the parents. Parents who aren't yours liking you I think is the worst because then they'll always mention you to their kid or worse, compare you. And then there was Saito, who was the only other boy openly hanging out with me; he was always very confrontational and tall since back then, so the others took an immediate dislike to him, too."

He then stopped, looking at Saito as if seeking permission; and only when his friend nodded, did he take a deep breath and carry on. But Tokio knew; she knew Saito well enough to distinguish that as encouragement rather than permission and she couldn't help but feel her heart ache for Okita and his kind smile.

"Long story short, they would relentlessly bully us; put things in our locker, destroy our indoor shoes, even make a mess when one of us was on cleaning duty! We mentioned it to the teachers often, but after once or twice they just shrugged it off, because those guys were _never_ caught in the act. To make matters worse, they started outright bullying us, realising we weren't allowed to touch them at all, because, as we were repeatedly told, we might hurt them much more than we realise exactly because we knew where to hit them. So after a while, they would shamelessly pick on us and try to get us to fight them, so we'd be yelled at…or maybe even expelled, if they were lucky."

"That's horrible." Chiyo breathed affronted.

"That's disgusting." Tama stated absolute.

"And yet it happened; for well over a year, it kept escalating, too. Until one day, I've had enough." That was when his smile fell completely and they could all just watch him melt into that same, helpless elementary school kid. "I just couldn't take it anymore. All the abuse, the unwarranted hate—I snapped! So I did…I did the one thing they warned us against: I attacked them."

Silence fell and none would open their mouths—they all waited for Okita to pick up again. The tension was in fact so thick, his strangled sigh brought them all palpitations. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone; I was only going to make them leave me alone and I didn't even care if they would talk shit behind my back or not, just wanted them away."

The little tremble on his lip told them that wasn't what happened. "But I was too good; everyone calls me a prodigy for a reason it seems, and before I knew it, I was causing damage." He looked at his friend again; Saito nodded once more. "The thing was, it wasn't them I caused damage to, no. It was…Saito. He knew what would happen if I had struck them at that moment and he knew what stir it would cause so he jumped in the way and took the blows in their stead."

Another sort of silence fell now and they all looked in different directions, because no one could look Okita in the eye. Instead, they all looked at Saito, who raised an eyebrow to the sudden attention. He said nothing thought, simply shrugged. "By that time, we had already started learning how to defend and deflect so I avoided the biggest burnt of it." Without bragging, not even a small grin, his tone was matter-of-factly.

Okita almost sobbed. "But what if you hadn't?"

"Considering the thought still haunts you to the day, I say Saito got his way," Tokio commented "because the only reason he stepped between you and them was for your own good. So if you got it so well into your head, that you should never exercise force on those weaker, that you feel so strongly about it so many years later…he did well. And you learnt that restrain is paramount. Also, you realised that some people you have to stop before they get too audacious. Did they get into trouble in the end?"

"Nah, but they stopped having anything to do with us because they were too scared!" Okita chuckled at the memory. "Despite how bad it looked – Saito's hand was completely paralysed for some minutes but we didn't tell anyone – it wasn't, but they didn't know; they were afraid next time Saito wouldn't be there to stop me."

Both boys showed their mirth by laughing or chuckling. "When we graduated, we told them that if they ever messed with anyone ever again, we'd know…I believe now they are honour students."

They laughed altogether then, but Tokio had a residual feeling of understanding-and she bet the others had, too. He wasn't joking when he named it a calling; so young yet knew just what the right thing was for both parties to do. And he did it. That was admirable. But they soon went back to their studying, after Okita's suggestion. The rest of the session revolved around actual studying, which was a godsend to Tokio who really wanted to make up for lost time as well as shake that peculiar thought of how Saito was to be admired. He was only her age. right?

As the hands of the clock ticked time away, one by one, her friends were bidding her goodbye, leaving only her and Saito before nine.

"Ah, I'm beat," she huffed as she fell back on her chair "today was so stressful."

"It's because it was the first time you used what I showed you; it worked though didn't it?"

"Yeah…! It actually did." She knew he'd be smirking at her victorious if she admitted it, but she couldn't lie; sure enough there was that signature curling of the lips as if he bested her at something when he obviously _hadn't._ They weren't competing in teaching methods…!

But he wasn't done teasing her. "It's refreshing to study with you and not be considered an inferior, too."

"Oh, shut up! When in earth did I make you feel inferior? You're the one always prattling on about how you're always right."

"Maybe I wouldn't if you didn't make me feel so useless."

Her eyes widened in mock-shock, looking all around for any witnesses to the ridiculousness she was being subjected to. "Am I hearing this right? The Great Saito Hajime is having _self-confidence issues_? Since **when**?"

"Since I met you, if you must now."

"Boo hoo hoo! Am I hurting your feelings, too or something?"

"As a matter of fact, yes; yes you are."

"If any of that were even remotely true, you wouldn't put a single toe inside my house. With my dad breathing down your neck. And my mum giggling like a school girl."

"Your family _is_ kind of weird, but they are fun, so it's alright."

"Hahaha, you bet! How else do you think they let me dye my hair blue? Even if it was a bet that I lost," she reminded hastily, snorting at the colour her tresses had till three months ago "they were very nice about it, didn't even ask me after I did it."

A thought popped into her head then; it disappeared immediately though, with the shaking of her head. "So you two've been friends for a long time, huh? Since five I bet…strong friendship."

He nodded mutely; he had no idea where she was going with this but he wanted to find out. "I mean, when you know someone for so long your weird family and their weird family seems normal and everyone else's becomes the oddity. But I bet Okita has very nice parents."

"They are; his dad is very sweet and his mum the epitome of care. They had him at an older age, so he feels as protective of them as they of him. They are very tight-knit."

"Huh…" she drawled, chin sticking a little out. "Bet he knew your parents, too."

He rolled his eyes. "Naturally." But it wasn't until a second later he regretted doing it, because with the girl's question, came a realisation.

"…how were they? Your parents."

The moment the words left her lips, her cheeks turned rosier, eyes darting to the floor; she was curious to know what sort of people raised a person like him—she wanted to meet his grandmother, too! She could bet her first-…previous first place, he was totally a good boy around her, trying not to make her worry too much. Of course, that was all her curiosity, a curiosity she dared not voice all this time, because it felt disrespectful…and it probably was. Yet this was a good opportunity, despite the shame evident on her face.

"They were very proper." His thoughtful tone prompted her to look at him and she was surprised to find him equally red, but stone-faced. "I don't mean just formal, proper; dad was a bit of a fitness junkie, running and working out any way he could, but that was all because he felt he needed to be in top condition to provide for his family."

The ghost of a reminiscent smile appeared on his face, and she felt he was sharing an inside joke with a memory. "My mom was chubby actually, but it never made her feel insecure that father was always bettering himself—or urged me to go into sports. And dad never spoke negatively about her either. He was, as I said, very proper. The first thing I remember, really remember, being taught from them, was manners." A small snort of amusement escaped him. " _Manners maketh man_ , after all. And they were very quick to teach me what a proper man was: honest, proud, and generous…but not a pushover. If someone did wrong by you, you had to let them know so they could fix it; if they wouldn't, they didn't deserve your time. And a man always stands up for those too weak to do it themselves; and he always protects his friends. But doesn't coddle them. He doesn't sugar-coat anything but he shouldn't be purposefully unkind either."

The more he kept talking, the more she realised how deeply embedded within him his parents' teachings were. He was basically describing himself. Sure, his personality is a little bit more wrapped than the perfect being his parents talked about, but that's natural—who could be all that, all the time? Besides, at his core, he really was like that. He was an honest person who didn't sugar-coat his words but only meant well, even if phrased badly.

She was mildly impressed!

She never thought he would actually tell her so much, also, so her surprise was magnified. But what surprised her the most was the covert warmth that seeped from his entire presence just at the mention of them. Something about his stone faced flush was extremely captivating. So she couldn't help it, when she put her cheek in her hand and leaned forward on the table, watching him. With a stupid smile on her lips, infected by his good mood, all she could say to that was: "you love them."

To which all he could reply was "…of course. They are my parents; and they were good at it."

"They do sound lovely; I wish I could have met them."

A dead second passed during which both teenagers looked at each other with their best poker face; she could feel the colour being drained from her though because _why the hell did she I that!? Oh my god, could I be anymore heartless and intrusive? And the hell is wrong with me—I'm not his girlfriend, what am I saying? Good lord, let him take it well, I'm so horrible…_

He blanked for a moment. When was the last time he spoke about his them? And he didn't mean a mere mention and that's that, but an extensive conversation? He was so overwhelmed! He had no idea he needed to tell people about them so badly but when his mouth started forming the words, it just wouldn't stop; he was practically gushing! He was so ashamed he troubled someone for so long; he was even ashamed he said so many things, prompted by one typical question. He was sure he was boring her…! So when she said she would have loved to meet them, it completely floored him! His heart did that weird thing again that it hadn't for a very long time where it momentarily stopped and then started beating and beating again, only faster!

He made himself serious though, refusing to burden her with any of that, not yet at least. He felt like their relationship just grew, in a positive way, but she shouldn't be subjected to him being clingy yet. After he turned serious, scaring the crap out of Tokio for thinking she went too far and said the worst thing possible, he simply inclined his head.

"They would have loved to meet you, too." silence. "Thank you Tokio. It's been a long time since anyone asked about them." _Since anyone cared_ , his mind supplemented and it took a lot out of him not to look gloomy.

"D-don't bow to me like that, please! I feel so uncomfortable; I was thinking I was being nosy, too so this is too much of a discrepancy in how I thought you'd react so please! Just stand up straight." He did as he asked. "And don't be so formal with me, I feel like you're trying to put distance between us…!"

"No; the opposite. I rarely keep up with meaningless formalities, so when I do, it usually means I respect that person."

"Oh." Her cheeks flushed a wonderful red that he started enjoying watching tinting her face. "I see; thank you for the compliment." She looked at him brightly. "Do you think your grandmother would like to meet me as well?"

"Ugh no, don't do that!" she would have taken offense had he not been so theatrical. "She's the type to get too excited about these things—if she meets you she'll question me to death."

She laughed. "I bet she was the type of gran to arrange playdates with other kids from the neighbourhood!" the look he gave her told her all she needed to know; her laughter only grew.

"Laugh while you can but if she ever sees you, you'll wind up with a phone call every other day on how your day was and what's the news about me."

Tokio failed to react the way he expected her to, surprising him with a blow on his arm. "If she's so much in the dark about what you do in your life that she has to ask me, then talk to her more, idiot! I bet she worries about you a lot so don't make it worse for her."

"…okay."

"Don't you sass— _you said okay_?"

He was looking sort of subdued. "Yeah. You're right. It's been a while since I last talked to her; I should call her more often."

"Huh." Was he messing with her? She didn't pressure him though, she could see he was having a moment with himself. "Anyway; wanna eat anything? We've been here so long, the onigiri we ate when we first came are all but digested already."

"Sure what d'you got?"

"Mmmm, pretty much anything. Wait, I could cook something; mum and dad will be coming back soon and they'll be hungry I bet. You have something in mind, a preference?"

"…I like omurice."

"Yes, I know you like omurice and soba, you never eat anything else at school; I mean a real, cooked meal, stuff your gran makes or something."

"…thick noodles with sweet-sour chicken and fried rice?"

"Wow, you came up with something specific, I'm impressed; most people don't do that. Okay, I think we have thick noodles and I know for a fact we have chicken and sauces;" she started rummaging the cabinets to find the ingredients, taking out all sorts of spices, herbs and vegetables "if I don't have thick, do you mind the regular ones?"

"No," was his immediate response "it's just how gran makes it."

"I see—oh I found our noodle stack! Thin, thin, regular, extra thin…ah there they are! We have thick noodles! Hey, I just remembered, we have shitake mushrooms, wanna add them?"

"I guess; I do my own cooking but I don't cook well. Don't ask _me_ in hopes of making it tastier, I wouldn't know."

"Oh blah; you're great at everything, save for cooking? I don't buy that. Come here! I'll teach you how to properly cook…! Not that I'm an expert, I warn you. I just copy most of the things my mum does, or look it up on the web."

"Still more effort than I put in."

"Okay, that's it; you're not leaving till you know how to do it."

Even if he wasn't the "head chef", that night he still got some very valuable experience on cooking with flavour as the goal, and not just to get something on the plate. Of course, he was absorbing everything in no time, driving her mad; how many more successes can a person even have? She felt exhausted just comparing herself to him nowadays…though that didn't stop her from teaching him how to cook in a serious, systematic way. And thus, they were spurred into crazy cooking lessons, on top of their relentless studying. It wouldn't be so hard if they weren't competing for everything, their friends reminded, but their words fell on deaf ears.

If she wanted to be honest with herself, she liked it; she always liked a challenge and she always liked being best. This was the first time she met a person with the same degree of enthusiasm and need as her for these things, so she couldn't possibly let him go unnoticed. And for what was worth, his thorny personality was enjoyable. His taunts were pointed but pretty much on point, and he'd never be offensive, just mean. The more time she spent with him, the more she wondered why the hell were people so offended by him all the time; and the more she found herself upset at people who would pester or equalise him to his ridiculous soulmate tattoo.

"I have a theory about my tattoo," she finally confined in Saito, Hijikata and An.

The four of them were at Hijikata's apartment, sitting on his couch. He'd just found the place, but he was already settled in, like he always lived there. It was smaller than one would expect but so…homey, it was odd. His parents had told him he could live on his own only if he could cover his expenses – since they wanted him at home – but they hadn't known that for some time now Hijikata was making his own money through competitions and other gigs – all legal of course – so he could finally be at a place he could call his own. One of the reasons he acclimated so well.

So, as a housewarming party, he invited everyone he knew and respected over; many people had visited, even Kondo-sensei made an appearance with his fiancé, but the ones left at the very end of the night, was these four. Tokio would stay over at An's who also had her own apartment – under the pretence of wanting no interference from her two younger brothers now that she went to university – not too far from here, so she wouldn't possibly leave without her…and Saito just stayed till late.

"What theory?" an intrigued An questioned immediately.

"Well, I had my mum monitor the tattoo for me and it changed twice in the last month, but the things it said they were…related? Like it came from the same person. So I have this theory! My tattoo must be what that person is thinking or saying. Now why it keeps changing, I have no freaking clue."

"That's an excellent theory! How come we hadn't thought of it before?"

"Because she never lets anyone read her tattoo, which I completely relate with." Saito added in the end, sincere.

"Exactly;" Tokio agreed in a heartbeat "it says such common things anyway."

"So why the sudden curiosity?"

"I don't know; I felt like checking it. Maybe because Tama has been driving me insane about _her perfect Matsuda_ lately." Knowing grins or laughs were shared. "Speaking of soulmate tattoos," Tokio continued and Saito saw the devilish glint in her eye "say whatever happened to yours, guys?"

Fact number one: An was Hijikata's soulmate.

Fact number two: Hijikata was An's soulmate.

Fact number three: they still hadn't told each other.

So An turned a new shade of red, a shade people shouldn't exhibit, because it meant something was wrong with their health. "You know about mine, stop being like that," she managed to bark at her friend.

Despite his own redness, Hijikata soldiered on and spoke his truth. "I had a bow and an arrow but it's gone. I have already met my soulmate."

An's head whipped at him so fast, it cracked. "What?"

"…it's been gone for years, since we met."

"M…mine, too."

Saito glanced at Tokio; Tokio glanced at Saito; their smirks mirrored each other's.

"But I see it right there; it says "kendo" in kanji."

At his evident confusion, she turned even redder, if possible, making Tokio worry a little bit. "…that's a real tattoo. I had it made immediately once my soulmate tattoo disappeared."

"The same _day_?"

"Yes; my parents have a friend…that's where they redid their own, so I had no trouble getting the appointment."

Hijikata remained silent. "When you said _mine, too_ did you mean your tattoo is also gone or it is gone for the same amount of time as mine?"

"Yeah, uh, guys, I think we should be going," Tokio started a little awkward.

She knew her friend all too well. If An found out that Hijikata's tattoo also meant her, she would A) flip her shit B) probably scream out of frustration and happiness and C) not hesitate to grab him and kiss him and do all sorts of things so far he allowed her. And since she had also realised Hijikata had no shame towards his feelings, he felt what he felt without the need to hide or smother it they'd definitely end up making out or worse. She harboured no judgement, if anything she was pro expressing yourself, but she also had no desire to watch it happen.

So she kindly took her leave.

Catching up on the vibe between the two people and Tokio's intention, he also stood, making his own exit. "Yeah, we should really get going."

"I just remembered I can't stay with you An-chan, sorry; and Saito now has to escort me to the station, so…"

"I just remembered gran will be coming over tomorrow and I have to have the house presentable, so I have to wake up way too early so I'll be escorting her to the station now."

They had already gathered their things, putting on shoes. "We are so sorry we are just leaving you alone like this."

"Very sorry," Saito supplied.

"But we have to leave. Goodnight guys. Have a fun remaining night!"

They were gone before they could say goodnight back.

On one hand, they were extremely rude to their friends; on the other hand, that night their friends finally admitted their feelings to one another. In fact, they both received "thank you" texts the next morning and they couldn't feel more smug or accomplished. Their cell phones rang again that Saturday morning, Saito's first. He smirked when he saw who sent it and why.

 _10:36 Tokio-chan: Bet they'll have a spring wedding_

 _10:37 OP-man: already looking for a suit_

 _10:37 Tokio-chan: Suit? Try a kimono!_

 _10:28 OP-man: I look good in formal wear regardless_

 _10:28 Tokio-chan: I look good in any kind of formal wear, too_

 _10:28 OP-man: don't be so competitive Tokio-chan_

 _10:29 Tokio-chan: better luck asking the sun not to rise_

 _10:29 Tokio-chan: btw, be ready for the test on Monday; I'll smoke you_

 _10:30 OP-man: some things are impossible even for you, Tokio-chan_

 _10:32 Tokio-chan: keep calling me that and the test won't be the only thing you'll have to worry about_

 _10:35 OP-man: you'll invite yourself over to my house again? think about your father_

 _10:35 Tokio-chan: I didn't mean it like that and you know it!_

 _10:38 OP-man: course you did; you wanna meet gran and knew I wasn't lying about her coming over_

 _10:43 Tokio-chan: that's it, you're coming over to study; bring an apron, too—mum says we ran out of clean ones_

 _10:44 OP-man: your mum is a hero; and where's you asking me to come_

 _10:44 Tokio-chan: which part of that's it you're coming over did you not read_

 _10:45 OP-man: I said asking, not telling_

 _10:46 Tokio-chan: tough_

 _11:36 OP-man: I'm getting ingredients for your special curry_

 _11:36 Tokio-chan: *thumbs up*_

.

.

"Your tests are back; Hiro, you'll have to retake them," was the first comment that left their homeroom teacher's lips. Hiro was in trouble. "You two should probably retake them as well, but you only failed two…you just failed them spectacularly." He snapped to two other students, one behind the other, who looked relieved the number was only two.

He kept handing back tests, till it was just Saito and Tokio left; they exchanged glances. "And here we have our high-achievers! Congratulations to both again; always top two in the entire grade."

It all happened in slow motion; the teacher's hand moved to deposit the sheets of paper on their desk; their dominant hands reached up to grab them; before they even looked at their scores, they showed the other person first…and that's when a "YES!" was screamed out loud and Tokio's fist hit the air triumphantly! She placed first; she regained her seat. All was well with the world.

"Damn it," he said in the end, albeit a little emotionlessly "I had hoped to remain first consecutively."

"Dream on."

He shrugged uncaringly. "You'll be placing second in the next one, so don't get too excited."

"As glad as I am I have the top two scoring students in my class, keep it down. Let's get to what we came here for, _to learn_."

"Yes sensei," they both stretched out their vowels in varying degrees of enthusiasm.

.

.

"Oh please; Kenjiro is the hottest."

"Eh; I prefer Kotaro."

"As far as muscles go, Saito's are the most prominent; he has been doing martial arts since he was five! I mean…let's get real girls."

It was PE and the girls were playing volleyball outside, between themselves. There was barely a net and it was more of a "who can hold the ball in play longer" kind of thing than real volley; they were short on people anyway, which was why they didn't go to the gym and opted for the admittedly large space next to the football field. While playing, they seemed fit to share their opinions on the boys and who was the best out of all. It was brought up because just two minutes prior, a bottle was thrown on one of their classmates, Mashiro, who proceeded to take off his blouse on account of being drenched. Mashiro didn't have that much of a spectacular body, but it easily spurred the current conversation, with Tama vehemently defending Saito's six pack.

Giggles escaped all the girls upon completion of Tama's comment and without realising, they turned to the boy in question, ball held in their hands. He didn't really look like a boy; he was so tall, easily reaching 1.86, and so serious…he was thin but something about the way he wore all his clothes loose made them think he really did have toned abs under there. He wasn't particularly good-looking either, but there was something very attractive about the way he held himself. He was currently stretching as he was about to enter the boy's football game.

But suddenly a practise ball came out of nowhere, heading directly towards him. Half the girls breathed in worried, half almost squealed to grab his attention to the projectile! He didn't seem to have need of them though, for he simply raised his palm, as he himself stood, effectively stopping it before it hit anyone else. He took it in his hands and threw it back in then, starting playing with the rest in the process.

"Ooh, nice reflexes." The one that held the ball commented.

Tama snorted with laughter. "Right? Imagine how he looks like underneath those shirts if he's so easy to do _that_."

"They should have spilled the water on him."

At Miho's offhanded comment, the girls started laughing maniacally; only when they stopped did they go back to playing. The ball was tossed back into the air and the game resumed.

"I still prefer Kenjiro; he's so beautiful…! And elegant."

Chiyo chuckled. "A regular bishounen, huh?"

"Too true!"

Tama made a face. "I prefer ikemen; I don't like it when a guy looks girl-ish."

Chiyo nodded in full agreement, missing the hit and sending the ball flying towards the bleachers. "Sorry," she whined apologetically, after she heard the "OUCH" following the impact.

Suddenly a generic "Watch out!" from a guy was heard and they all turned to the sound alarmed, letting their own ball hit the ground; thankfully, it wasn't coming in their direction, but they noticed, in horrified silence, it headed straight for Tokio who had just emerged from the school building. She already had a headache and a slight fever so she didn't notice; and if the ball hit her they feared it would knock her out!

She was saved in the nick of time by a very impressive stunt Saito pulled: he dribbled the ball at his feet and with a flourish, he kicked it straight at Tokio, too…only to collide with the other one, before it managed to hit her, changing both balls trajectories! The girls stared in awe as they watched it all happen while Tokio seemed to be alerted to something, not even knowing what, when she heard the loud sound from their collision!

"My bad;" he then said as if it wasn't planned "the other team gets a throw-in."

Miho exhaled relieved.

"Oh my god!"

"That was so awesome!"

"CLOSE CALL TOKIO-CHAN, WATCH YOUR SURROUNDINGS PLEASE!" Tama all but roared once her friend was safe, hurling herself at her with arms open wide.

"What just happened?" came her confused question once Tama released her.

"A ball went rogue and came at you full throttle!" she answered her friend still kind of pissed. "Thankfully mister show off was here to prevent it hitting you."

She gestured towards Saito with her head who seemed too engrossed in his game to have done something like this on purpose, but Tokio couldn't help but notice the way his eyes darted to her out of their corner, checking if she was alright. Or was she simply seeing things from the fever and the headache?

"I should thank him then," said Tokio, still in a daze.

"You should go back inside and lie down! Why are you out here anyway? You look like you're about to keel over any second."

"Mm, I'm fine."

"Oh yeah, I can tell! Chiyo," she had just arrived "tell her she looks whiter than a sheet of paper."

"You should really go back to the nurse's office and maybe sleep it off. If it won't go away maybe you should go home and rest."

Tokio was always more easily angered when somehow incapacitated or not in tip top condition, so it was no surprise she tched at them, vain popping on her forehead. "Stop coddling me, I'm not a toddler. It's just a cold; it'll go away in a couple of hours."

"Only if you lie down; you're still standing."

"Geez, _fine_! I'm going back inside!"

She turned about, angry, and stomped back from wherever she came from. It later turned out her friends were right, because she had to call someone home to come pick her up. But both her parents were working, so she ended up staying till the end of classes, to be escorted home by her two friends who lived literally next to her. Almost supporting her the entire way, they let her collapse on the sofa, taking her shoes off her feet for her. Then they removed their own, and started preparing her a quick meal and fetched things such as blankets for her.

It wasn't too long they were out of the door – Tokio was insufferable to be around for more than thirty minutes once she's officially sick – that her phone rang. What with the lights off like that, her eyes hurt when she looked at the bright screen. It read:

 _19:45 OP-man: can't come today; practise_

She hadn't realised but…she was actually looking forward to him coming. She tasted an unprecedented bitterness on her tongue and the corners of her mouth turned slightly downwards. But she had no reason to be demanding.

 _19:59 Tokio-chan: *thumbs up* that's good coz I'm sick and I'd probably get you sick, too_

 _20:00 OP-man: you should rest Tokio; don't answer texts_

 _20:01 Tokio-chan: I do what I want_

She never received a reply; it only made her feel worse.

Of course that wasn't the reason her health took a turn for the worse, also; in fact, both her parents were fussing over her from the moment they walked in their living room, what with medicine and teas and compresses, yet she still became worse. It was a very high fever and she could see herself trembling, but somehow couldn't feel it. It was odd. She had never gotten that sick before. Her dad nearly lost it the moment he saw her lips nearly blue and it took everything out of her mom to keep him collected enough to get her to the hospital.

Once there, the doctors managed to calm down everyone, saying this was a common thing lately, it was this year's flu; so they gave her some fluids and antipyretics and despite resisting to the ones they had at home, her temperature dropped significantly with the ones at the hospital. Still, they could never be too sure, the doctors said, and advised her to stay the night there, which she did.

 _10:30 OP-man: you alright? First time you miss classes_

 _10:43 Tokio-chan: didn't the girls tell you_

 _10:43 OP-man: no what_

 _10:45 Tokio-chan: the doctors decided I should stay today here; coming back to school on Friday_

She didn't receive a text back again; she frowned deeply, glaring at her screen. What was with him? He first worries about her and then doesn't? Why did he just stop caring like that? Pouting, she thought about chucking her phone in the bin…but reconsidered; what if he was just preoccupied with classes? Or what if he didn't know what to say so he stalled and he'd answer later? That thought carried her well after five; when she looked at the clock of her watch though, she felt like fuming! Tama send her a get well soon message, so did Chiyo; An promised a visit, maybe with Hijikata who sent his own greetings and wishes, possibly Okita, too…Saito was the only one who said nothing. Even random classmates from school wished her better!

Extremely annoyed and getting better and better by the hour, so with a lot of room to not feel ill but angry, she kept boiling in her bed. Until, that is, one hour later, around six, the door opened. It was visiting hours, so she expected her father to come in any moment…but none other than Saito came through!

Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed red! She was wearing…baby pajamas and hospital stuff and-…and she wasn't presentable!

"Tokio" he greeted, head inclining. She only just noticed he was holding a fruit basket. Oh, a get-well present. "How are you?"

"S-Saito! Hi, welcome; please sit down. Th-thank you for coming to see me, you didn't have to. And you even brought…thanks…"

 _Why is she so embarrassed_ , he wondered to himself as he set the gift on her bedside table _and why is she acting like_ "…you weren't expecting me."

"I really wasn't!"

He became solemn and a look of distaste appeared on her face. "I'd told Okita to tell you we'd be coming; he said he couldn't come with me, he'll come with Hijikata and An-san so I told him to let you know I'd be coming before them because I have to pick up gran later." He clicked his tongue. "That man can be quite the airhead. I'm sorry he didn't tell you; I caught you off guard."

"No! It's fine, it's fine, really; I don't mind at all."

"You should; I could have intruded."

"Oh, it's just my parents who are always here, big deal," she waved him off "if anything I'm glad someone my age is with me. I just, I mean, I look so…err, never mind; I'm glad you're here."

And she wasn't just saying that to be polite, she found; she really did enjoy having him there. If anything she was over the moon when she saw him walk through that door! It felt odd to her because…she was never this close to a guy before. She felt her embarrassment levels rise with each passing thought and second.

"So anyway! We know about me, how are you?"

Already sat next to her on a chair, hands crossed in front of his chest, he gave her a side glance. "We do? Since when? What did the doctors say?"

"Oh, I'm fine; I just had a severe case of the flu, but I'm already feeling like it ran its circle." She shrugged. "I rarely get so sick is all, so dad freaked out big time and drove me to the hospital in a hurry. The only reason I'm not at home and the only reason I'll be skipping another day of school is because dad's been overprotective and the doctors want to calm him."

His shoulders finally slacked. "I see."

The way he acted, she felt like she had made him angry somehow and the report on her health was the only thing that made him forgive her. She was troubled. Did something happen—did she do something she didn't know? "Um, Saito." He looked at her—because all this time he wasn't looking at her. "Did I do something to you…?"

He seemed surprised by her question; the timid tone stoke him as very odd, too. "Why would you even think that?"

"Um, see? Even now you sound…harsh. Like you're mad at me…"

"Of course I'm not mad at you."

She recoiled at the very sound of his words; he was taken aback. Was he worrying her? He then stopped to consider; he wasn't mad at her, not at all. He was sincerely, irrevocably _worried_. In fact, he was terrified! When his mom was first hospitalised, all the doctors said she'd be fine and it was nothing wrong, just a cold; it then turned out to be cancer and very against their word, she died within six shot months. He had flashbacks of her mom on her own hospital bed when he came in and every positive thought he had accumulated just to gather the nerve to see her, it seemed to vanish! His stomach felt pitless and there was something lodged on his throat and at first he couldn't even speak; if she hadn't been so utterly amazed by his entrance he would never have had the window to greet her properly.

He was very worried about her health; did that translate as anger to her? Truth be told, all the worry and the fear did upset him, so maybe he acted a little angry, it wasn't all in her head. The thought that he looked too serious dawned on him and finally allowed his face to relax in a neutral expression. "I'm not mad at you at all," he rephrased "just relieved. I don't have the best memories from hospitals, so it shows on my face I guess."

"Oh."

But of course. How can she be so stupid? He'd told her his mother died from cancer, of course he'd be uncomfortable in here. "I'm so sorry; I can be very heartless sometimes."

"Haha, you don't have to apologise Tokio, I should. So forgive me for upsetting you."

She smiled. "Forgiven." A big weight lifted from her heart in that moment; she was being such an idiot in general these days; it totally had to do with the fact she fell ill, she just knew. But gone with the worry, returned the cheekiness. "You could have come with your gran you know."

"Oh god no! Really Tokio, I'm doing you a favour by not introducing her to you, take my word for it. Gran is tenacious and patient-"

"Killer combination."

"-so if she wants something, she usually gets it and what she could want from you I don't even wanna imagine so better believe it's for your own good."

Rolling her eyes, she accused "excuses."

"If it's the truth…!"

She shook her head. "Yeah yeah yeah."

But the way she did, his eye caught a movement. "Oh, your tattoo just changed."

"Really? That's weird; it's the fourth time this month. It never changed so often before."

"Maybe it really wants to be noticed; you always ignore it."

"And you don't?"

"Yours?"

"Yes, mine and yours, too, don't play dump!"

"Huh," was all he said, infuriatingly vague. "Then maybe we should read it; tilt your head a bit."

"I don't wanna; go consult your timer and let me be."

"Someone's a little bitter…"

"Kettle calling the pot black," she wisely stated and stared at him. "What's the last time you looked at your timer anyway?"

"…when I was a child and that was an accident."

She laughed. "Then hands off mine."

"I only suggested…!"

.

.

"You know Tokio, considering you've been hospitalised previous week, one would expect your academics to show a small slump but hell no; not you. You came back better!"

"Is that resentment in your voice I hear, cute Tama-tan?"

"Shut up!"

"Aw, it is. I had missed it."

"Shut up you overachiever!"

"I love you, too."

"I don't," Saito interjected "Tama, stop being like that to your best friend, it isn't healthy."

"Crawl back to your dungeon, troll," Tama accused him annoyed "you would never understand my problem since you're always in the top two! Sports included, you uncommonly talented prick!"

"I do understand jealousy though…"

"Saito, lay off Tama-tan."

"And you enabling and accommodating her will never lead anywhere. If your friendship is to survive high school you should really work out all these underlying problems."

"DUDE" Tama started infuriated "we've been close since kindergarten! And we've always been like this. So lay off."

"If you're always complaining about her being so much better than you, no wonder you never beat her at anything."

"Saito!" Both Chiyo and Tokio shouted his name indignant. Yet he was unfazed.

"If you want her to grow up, stop treating her like a baby. The way I see it," he turned to Tama again "all this time you've accepted Tokio is better at you at everything and you aren't even trying to beat her anymore. That's why you lost; not because you can't catch up to her."

"Saito-," Tokio started, finger erect and ready to jab him. But he didn't care; sitting on Tama's desk, leaning in with his devil may care attitude he ignored her.

"Stop making excuses for yourself; you maybe can or maybe can't beat her. She is pretty smart after all. So what? The moment you stopped trying, she had won at everything."

Tears in her eyes, Tama stood up and ran away! None followed; they knew she wanted to be left alone. But the moment passed and the two girls turned to Saito furious! Banging her fists on the desk, Tokio glared. "Why did you have to tell her that?"

"You think she doesn't know?"

"You think we haven't told her!?"

"I don't see her trying to change though."

"People don't change overnight!" Tokio shouted.

"And this is actually her being tame."

"She's being awful though; to you and to herself. If she really wants to change…then here's her chance. Now that another person noticed, too."

He was kind of right, they realised, but that didn't excuse his bluntness; Chiyo, was still visibly upset, ran after her friend, against hr better judgement. Tokio watched both her friends go, sighing all the while. "And now she runs, too."

"Your friends are too fragile."

"An and I are considered the emotional pillars of the friendship, mainly because we are, but also because that's how it's always been; so you can't just come here and accuse her like that. You need to warm up to it first, make a joke or something. Traditions work for a reason."

"Yeah; because she can brush them off mainly." Tokio glared at him again. "Look, all I'm saying is your friend, a friend you're so close with, should not be this jealous of you, ever. She has some issues with herself she should work out."

Yet he cared far more about how she was hurting Tokio's feelings than Tama working out her issues. In all honesty, he didn't even believe their friendship would suffer all that much. He was just goddamn annoyed that Tama was never happy with Tokio's success! If he was happy about his rival being better than him, why wasn't she? Maybe he was being childish but he wanted the best for the people he acknowledged and he'd hate to think that of Tama but maybe Tokio deserved a better friend.

"We all do, genius; some more than others, that's the only difference."

She wasn't being loud neither all that confrontational, which intrigued him "…so you agree with me." He hadn't expected that.

Oh boy would she ever regret this. "Yes," the malice in his eye was so prominent she could kick him "but you could have phrased it much better!"

"You've been doing that for a long time and see how well that worked; so don't tell me I was too abrupt. Maybe I should be."

"…I still can't condone that; she's a dear friend and despite her shortcomings I love her very much."

"Well, whatever."

They shrugged; suddenly they both looked at each other surprised. "That was much more civil than I thought it'd be." Saito confessed.

"Yeah, I agree; but hey, I'm not unreasonable."

"No you aren't."

The only thing left that mildly confused him was when the hell did she become so important to him?

.

.

"EEK! Oh my god!"

God damn it, he wanted to scream from the burn but his pride wouldn't let him! Boiling water falling on a person like that, clinging to their blouse could be serious trouble. No wonder Tokio immediately instructed "get that thing off of you and go stand under cold water!" she even actually went to fill a bucket with ice cubes and water to drop on him. Moving as fast as she could, he was being shoved to lie down into his own bathtub before he could understand what she was doing. The two of them were over at his apartment, after all for the third or maybe fourth time. They'd been studying really hard for the end of year exams and her father's intrusions turned out to be _too_ distracting so they finally decided to break that boundary. It wasn't nearly as debilitating or embarrassing as Saito had thought, so he allowed her to return with not so heavy a heart. She was even impressed at how well kept the place was, considering he was just a high schooler.

And today he said he'd cook; show off the fruit of his efforts…and proceeded to spill all the boiling water he prepared for the steaming on his person! That was what was embarrassing and it burned through his good name as a martial arts expert faster than it burned his flesh!

But when the cold water hit him, ah, such a relief! The ice cubes helped a great deal.

He sat up. "That's…very good. Thank you Tokio." He managed through gritted teeth straightening his back that she lightly caressed, to ease the pain. When he finally realised what she was doing, he could feel his heart do that very odd thing again where it went out of whack and he was befuddled. What the hell caused that? Was it…her?

"You're very welcome; but that'll hurt like a bitch." She pointed at the reddening spot on his flesh. Of course "spot" was an understatement, since the entirety of his ribs on the right and his chest was covered by it. "We could rub some aloe on it or another special cream."

At the idea she would rub anything on him, his cheeks turned even redder, from another kind of heat. What had gotten into him? "I got it, don't sweat it." He tried to look away but she was so close, he could practically feel her breath on his neck and somehow that warmed him up again!

Her snort jolted him to look up at her. "You'll be sweating alright…anyway, need anything?"

"No; I'll go put something else on and we'll continue cooking."

"You?"

"Excuse me?"

"We'll continue cooking you, right?"

He clicked his tongue, the telltale sign he was not amused. "I'll still steam some buns; you keep saying stuff like that and you won't be having any."

She threw her head back and laughed! He narrowed his eyes at her…but she was so close, his eyes fell on her tattoo; and this once, he did read it, without even meaning to. This time, her tattoo wrote:

 _If we're cooking me, then you'll have to eat me, too idiot; stop giving me weird thoughts and images!_

He froze.

What did he just read?

He tried to play it cool, keep his poker face; hoping he looked inconspicuous he looked up again in an effort to reread it, make sure what he just saw. She'd stopped laughing but thankfully her head was still tilted a little to the side and he could see the tattoo…changing.

 _If I read what I think I read does that mean I'm her soulmate?_

His eyes became wide before he could help it; in an effort to conceal what had just happened, he stood up abruptly! A lesser man would have lost his balance, but Saito managed to stay on his feet and he felt proud.

"You okay? Did the water turn too cold?"

"Yeah," he jumped at the excuse she so graciously provided "even I get cold sometimes."

"Don't feel bad, they are ice-cubes; if anything, it's admirable you pulled through for so long."

But how does he explain to her he was actually feeling very hot and he had just discovered something so important…? Suddenly he felt even closer to his older friend, Hijikata; now he knew why he kept it a secret. Even though their secret was the opposite, now he realised the purpose behind it. But if he was her soulmate – and the tattoo strongly suggested that – then how come it didn't disappear? And why did it change so often?

This whole soulmate business was very weird and had too many rules it didn't even follow; he once again confirmed his dislike for this stupid, archaic blotch on his skin. After all, if he was her soulmate as that stupid thing implied how come he was the one getting palpitations?

* * *

 **A/N** : Guys, I've no will left to proof read this so please accept any mistakes on grammar or tenses; I try. Other than that R&R lovelies and I hope you enjoyed the read as much as I enjoyed the writing!


	3. Year 3

**A/N** : Inspiration always strikes when I'm doing something which can't be interrupted, like working. At least it didn't go away till I came home yesterday night or this morning and I managed to write this chapter because it literally took me previous night and this morning for these 6000 plus words! Will proofread this and will publish; you guys who read this are awesome!

* * *

The kind-of revelation he experienced, he kept a secret, mainly due to the fact it'd been made during an academically very trying time. It was shown to him at a crucial point for their future education, so he figured forgetting about it was the best course of action. Also, it helped clear his head until he could properly process the information. Hidden well within the folds of his consciousness, he decided not to deal with it.

That didn't work for too long, naturally; once exams were finished and he'd found out just how well they had placed – with him being a very close second – all other thought sort of went out the window. So first he spent the break avoiding her; when that apparently didn't work at all, for he was still constantly thinking about her and her stupid ink, he decided to do the opposite. And the rest of the break, whenever he could, he'd be around her, make excuses to see her more and more, as if to prove to himself he made a mistake. But there was no mistake, he found out the hard way, when he looked at her furtively thinking to himself "please let it be something different please, that's all I ask" only to see it clearly on her skin.

From that moment onward he gave up trying to refute the obvious; he took up trying to avoid it—not her, the tattoo. Of course, the more he tried not to think about it – he's not her soulmate, no way – the more his eyes wandered to it without even meaning to! Because he didn't want to see it; after all, she didn't act like she met her soulmate and despite the fact the tattoo itself made it very clear he was, it was still _there_.

This is another reason why he hated these hellish blotches of natural ink; they had a strict set of rules they didn't even follow: it was supposed to disappear when you met your soulmate but hers for some reason didn't; then she didn't even seem infatuated with him. So practically, he was right—these tattoos were a waste of time. Then why didn't he feel any better? Shouldn't he be happy he was proven right?

Maybe it had to do with the fact he was so obviously rejected; no one likes being rejected, no matter how well they take it. Or maybe it had to do with the fact their roles were reversed: instead of _her_ freaking out he was her soulmate, it was him going in mental circles, feeling his heart beat faster for no reason, thinking of her at nights. And every time his eyes wandered to her tattoo involuntarily, he would catch himself staring not at the words, but at her neck. She had a beautiful neck, he decided, so it wasn't too odd for him to stare, right? She was generally good-looking so people were bound to stare. Then again she'd always been this pretty and cute so why was he noticing the way she tilted her head in thought, hand on her lips, looked sexy just now? Why was he even paying attention to how her neck looked so inviting when it was thusly exposed? And why the hell did he start thinking about how her eyes lit up every time she smiled, why was that even a topic in his head?

Oh no…oh no. Oh no no no, he was falling in love with her. Why!? It was supposed to be the other way round! What if it all stemmed from the fact he let the thought of the tattoo consume him to this degree...? He swallowed. It was high time he shared the news with someone. He took out his cell immediately.

.

"So you're telling us you found out you are Tokio-chan's soulmate by complete and utter accident yet instead of telling her about it you kept it secret long enough for it to dominate your thoughts till you actually think you fell for her?"

"…pretty much."

Okita laughed heartily, nearly falling off the pillow his was sitting on, in Saito's apartment; Hijikata next to him, tried his best to look thoughtful to avoid smiling in expense of his friend. "That's so like you, it's not even funny." Yet he was still laughing. "What do you think Hijikata-sempai?" he managed through chuckles once most of the mirth subsided.

As dignified as ever, Hijikata took a sip from the tea Saito had so courteously prepared for him, while he mulled the things over in his mind. The matter wasn't simple after all, especially for their friend. So he took a minute before speaking his opinion.

"Saito doesn't trust the concept of soulmates, nor does he trusts the tattoos, thus it's useless to tell him to stay positive in light of the news or even propose check his own tattoo and see if its still counting down. Tokio doesn't seem too convinced by it either so it only gets worse. What I think you should do in this case is to simply give yourself time wait it out, while you explore your own feelings and make sure whether they are romantic or not. Once you are certain of their nature, you either forget about it, or ask her out and see what she says. Should her answer be positive, tell her about her tattoo."

"That's very good advice; thank you." Hijikata bowed in acknowledgement.

"So, you and Tokio-chan huh. Who would have thought…oh wait, me; I already have. In fact I've been teasing you about it non-stop for half a year now."

"Yes Souji, I remember."

"Kept telling you how well you work together and how come you aren't even considering dating."

"Yes, yes, I recall."

Saito sighed. There'd be no living with him after this.

.

First day of school was a nightmare. What with her being a senior now and such a smart yet approachable person, she received a lot of attention from guys, mostly their age, but some underclassmen, too. Pretending they came to congratulate her on placing first, how much more when she did it the third year in a row, they had the opportunity to flatter her to make themselves seem desirable. But what truly drove him nearly over the edge was how one particular guy, Kenjiro the bishounen – as the girls had dubbed him – was constantly trying and once or twice succeeded in invading her private space by _actually touching her_. Touching her! Sure, it was only the arm and _yes thank you god she seems uncomfortable and awkward_ by the unwarranted assault of her privacy but it still ticked him the hell off. It bothered him so much, he acted as a physical, actual barrier, striking up conversation with both people, just so he could discreetly place himself between them.

And that was how he knew: his feelings were now cemented deep within him. He was in love; it wasn't a passing thing. Coupled with the fact he had never in his whole life exhibited such form or level of possessiveness, he couldn't mistake this. After all, he did think to himself, prior to this, many a time things like "this is _my_ friend, and only I can make fun of her, you go away" when he'd tease Tokio and someone would jump in to do the same, but this was so different, he could feel it in his bones. More like, the surge of jealousy was so potent he could feel his bones complain by the sheer force.

He washed his face and looked up to really study himself in the mirror. Now he knew for himself, he only had to tell her. But how could he? She didn't act out of the ordinary one bit; there was no way her feelings had changed. He sighed at his reflection. He would chastise himself for being a coward but it would have to wait; just a little longer.

.

"Saito has a very hot body, oh my god."

It was barely summer break, yet her class had already arranged and were currently at a swimming pool altogether. It was Yamamoto's idea, one swiftly encouraged by the entire populace; girls and boys wanting to show off and at the same time have an eyeful of the others half-naked. Win-win situation as An would call it. The pool they had gathered at was a nice, big indoors one, decorated to remind people of the tropics; everyone was having a great time, assessing each other's looks. Chiyo was the dominant girl surprisingly but not so surprisingly once she decided to take off her clothes because she was very plethoric in the right places so she garnered much attention. In fact, she had gathered that much attention, Tokio was going unnoticed, which was a good thing. Of course guys were still guys so lewd comments flew around for everyone. Girls were doing the same to be honest, so it was fair game.

And she wouldn't have particularly minded, nor had she particularly minded, until Saito decided to walk in the place, fashionably late. He was visiting his gran in Yokohama that much she knew, so it made sense he'd be coming later, but she hadn't expected such a commotion over him! Once he took off his T-shirt nearly every single girl that even remotely knew her would come over and whisper her something along the lines of that comment. She could see it; so why did everyone feel the need to remind her!? And why did they feel the need to tell her first, instead of their own close friend? She expected Tama-chan and Chiyo to come and tell her that but what was up with everyone telling her that? Alright, Saito and she were friends. That didn't mean he casually stripped in front of her! This was one of the very few times she saw him half-naked so it wasn't a usual occurrence. They were either implying something or they were being very tactless.

And what was up with the sudden attention directed at him? They never spared a look before due to his personality and his not so hot looks; but now that they know he has a nice body they are all over him. Talk about shallow, the whole lot of them. _She_ liked him anyway! She wasn't going to say being so fit was a bad thing, because it really wasn't, especially with his height and all but it was so annoying that was all the girls would talk about. Some even went to him, pretending to lose their balance so he would catch them; others shamelessly tried to touch him, complimenting him on his looks. For some reason, that made her angry.

"Pink's not your colour. Should've worn something darker, like red."

"Ha, ha, ha." Tokio pretended to laugh and almost glared at Saito for his comment. "Just because you look good no matter what you wear, it doesn't mean you get to be an asshole."

"…is something bothering you?"

To say his attempt at teasing her backfired would be an understatement; he simply wanted some banter while standing next to her when she wore a bikini. Despite pink really not being her colour – no matter what Kenjiro said to flatter her earlier – it still made her look sexy. Thankfully, she wasn't shy at all, so she never covered herself with a kaftan or a towel and he could look at her longer. Sadly, her new fan would stare, too, still convinced pink suited her great. Kenjiro was lying.

"I'm so sorry," she apologised, feeling actually guilty "you didn't deserve this. But since you've arrived all I've been hearing is about how people look and somehow I took offense. Sorry."

His lips curled upwards because he had just found the perfect thing to say. "…sounds like you need a confidence boost; want me to pay you a compliment?"

"Only if you mean it," she finally regained her spirit and teased.

"You have very nice shoulders."

He opted to say that instead of the first thing that came to his mind that would have been mildly inappropriate; besides, he knew complimenting on another body part when one is so exposed, is bad manners. But her ass looked pretty nice, too though he would never say it out loud to anyone because he didn't want to give away where and how long he'd been looking at, no thank you.

"Aw, that actually did make me feel better. Thanks."

"Then I'm glad."

She smiled brightly at him. She hadn't realised his kind words had such an impact on her till this moment; when Kenjiro had claimed she looked _simply_ _divine_ , it took a lot out of her not to cringe. But the lack of Saito complimenting her, did make her sad. When he looked so well in comparison, she had the thought that somehow she wasn't good enough to stand next to him and it made her sick to her stomach. But now it was different; he was only being him.

"Did anyone give you trouble about your tattoo by the way?"

He snorted. "As if! I warned them to keep their eyes off of it or even if they happened to look at it to keep their mouths shut…or else."

The words coming out of his mouth and the seriousness of his face made for a killer combination; she laughed! "And with all these muscles, who would dare go against you?"

"Precisely." Her laugh was extended – it made his heart swell with pride – but it mellowed out enough for them to share a knowing look. "Speaking of which, my first match is in half a month. You'll be coming right?"

"Of course! It should be fun." Especially since there wouldn't be any of their classmates to fawn over him.

.

.

.

"Who _is_ that girl? She's awesome!"

Sitting at the spectators' side of the gymnasium, Tokio, Okita, Hijikata and An were watching the women's games. The men's had already finished so the two men of their company stood next to them in their competition uniforms, sweaty but smiling - seeing they had placed among the first again - .

"That's Hanamaki Kyoko-chan we've been telling you about!" Okita informed, a ball of enthusiasm. "She's Kondo-san's latest find, despite her being our age; she's been duking it out in gangs but Kondo finally managed to put her on the straight and narrow so now she's beating people up in competitions!"

"Oh! The way you always spoke of her, I imagined her…older."

"And don't make it sound like she only chose to follow Kondo in order to beat people legally Okita-kun," An added in the end, but the younger man just waved her off.

"That's because she's so gifted and amazing!" Souji kept complimenting her; Tokio could see exactly why he was so over the moon with her: tall, strong, very charismatic, she looked poised when she simply stood. And she finished her opponent with the least amount of moves necessary. She was so good, in fact, it sparked the competitive streak within her. Not that she'd ever be able to defeat her no matter how fierce Tokio could be, but that you-never-know-until-you-try vibe she was feeling, it was enough to show her she already liked this person.

An looked around. "Where's Saito though?"

"Had to take a bath because a parent threw coffee on him for defeating his son. Poor guy, he always gets the crazy ones; thank god he's always so calm. Poor Kyoko-chan, too; she wanted us to watch her."

"But he's the only one missing…you two are here…"

"Ah," Okita started kind of annoyed kind of tired "she thinks Saito has the best technique out of the three of us and his speed is actually the best so she made him promise to watch her and give her a few pointers, seeing she's still learning."

"I can offer her some pointers as I saw the entire performance."

"Good guy Hijikata," both girls commented.

"But you aren't Saito, Hijikata-sempai." Okita continued, pretending to be very serious.

"That's kind of selfish," Tokio spoke without thinking "Hijikata-sempai is just as talented yet with even more experience."

"The heart wants what the heart wants."

 _The heart?_ Tokio raised an eyebrow at that statement but no one managed to pay much attention to it as that exact moment Saito arrived. "What did I miss?"

"Only Kyoko-chan's entire performance."

Everyone turned to the stage once Okita's lips had stopped moving to see the athletes take their bows. "Damn; she'll complain."

"You bet she will; try getting on her good side!"

"I have a few pointers; maybe you should tell her instead?"

"I'll do no such thing; let her complain."

Tokio felt a little proud at Saito's declaration. But cut to ten minutes later, Tokio was feeling annoyed at particularly nothing and everything at the same time: this amazing, talented powerhouse of a person was effectively complaining nonstop to Saito for getting himself in that incident and consequently not being able to watch her match. She had respectfully sat through Hijikata's mini lecture but the moment he was out of earshot with An on his arm, he started her tirade of cute indignation: puffed up cheeks, hands crossed, looking away with determination. Being so tall, 1.76, she basically looked down on everyone but the man she was arguing with and Tokio was getting more and more pissed by the second. Tokio hadn't even managed to introduce herself! She had started feeling protective of him again, too; who was this strange girl who was all up in his face?

"So…I'm Tokio," she finally said when she stopped berating him.

The girl blanked for a second. "Oh my god!" And then became the picture perfect of shame and shock. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even realise you were there! Oh god you must have the worst idea of me right now; so sorry."

 _Didn't realise?_ She was standing next to Saito for crying out loud! Maybe if she'd spent a tenth of her time looking around him and not just at him with the edge of her eyes, maybe she would have spotted her! The fact she wasn't being rude on purpose did little to help diffuse Tokio's tension whose opinion of the girl went from great to eh, to bad in a very short amount of time.

"That's my fault," Saito interjected between them "forgive me for not being able to watch your match when I promised I would."

"…thank you Hajime-san." Was all she said and the two athletes gave a deep bow.

But Tokio's blood just kept boiling when that girl accepted an apology that should have never been made. Also, who the hell calls him _Hajime_? "It clearly wasn't his fault he was held up because someone decided to throw coffee on him," she reasoned absolute "unless you blame him for winning against that guy's kid."

"I didn't say that," Kyoko immediately contradicted, anxious to get her point across "I'm just upset he promised to see me but for whatever reason he didn't keep his promise."

"Then it was important to you and I let you down; forgive me, again."

They bowed to each other again then but everyone seemed to drop the subject at that, for Okita suggested once everyone is clean, they should go eat altogether; everyone accepted, even Tokio. After all, she might not have liked her attitude, but how could she hold anything against her when she was being so sincere and open about her feelings? Goddamn it; and she wanted to be angry at her, for some reason. Though she couldn't really figure out why.

.

.

"Saito~" Tokio rapped her hands on his door, speaking in a sing-song voice "I brought snacks-…! You are not Saito."

The door opened and none other than Hanamaki Kyoko stood behind it. Now there's something Tokio never thought she'd witness; a person who is not Okita or Hijikata opening Saito's door. She felt a vein popping on her temple.

"Ah, Tokio! Welcome, come on in," she stood aside to let her pass, motioning inside with her head "Hajime said you'd be coming over to study! So I invited myself over because I really suck at math and literature."

Good, she was explaining herself; she was taking steps towards the right direction. "Ah, we're very good at helping people learn; I hope we get to help you, too" she said instead of all the things that popped into her head such as _why the hell are you so casual in another person's home_ and _is that Saito's shirt you're wearing_?

"Yes, yes he mentioned that, too! Hope you get to help me, too, I tanked last year."

"You don't go to our school though; how come-?"

"Ah, we exchanged emails when we first met; I asked him if he could tutor me he said to come over today when you'll be here, too. Hajime is the smartest one after all; Okita is the most sociable though."

"By far," Tokio agreed, _so why the hell would you exchange emails with Saito_? "Where is he though?" she finally realised he was missing.

"He left to go shop from the store down the street; said he ran out of something I didn't quite get."

"Ah, okay! So, let's get ready; take out your books and leave them all on the kitchen table and I'll start sorting through notes."

.

.

"Kyoko-chan said she wants to dye her hair, too when I told her you used to have blue highlights!" Okita informed in his usual Okita way, while they were having a study-gone-food session at Tokio's apartment. "Said she likes her shade of brown but a couple of green highlights would suit her, too."

Tokio snorted but it was Tama who said. "If she does, I hope she likes it; green is a difficult colour."

"It would suit her though. Her personality sort of shines through the way she dresses and she's very straightforward and uncaring, so green would be good for her!"

Saito shrugged in agreement to his friend's opinion, causing Tokio to get curious. "Oh you think it'll suit her, too?"

"She needs that visual something to let you know what you're getting yourself into."

"Isn't that a compliment, coming from you?" Tama teased, pushing him with her elbow.

"…not really but whatever. It's just my opinion."

"I would like to meet her," Chiyo contributed, eating silently all this time "she sounds very interesting."

"She is!" Okita assured. "She's pretty strong, too; I bet she could even take me out."

"High praise," was all Saito commented.

Tokio didn't doubt this girl deserved it; but Tokio, for the life of her, could not come to like this person or the way everyone, and she meant _everyone_ kept praising her, nor that all she could hear the past two months, ever since he met her, was her name. Kyoko-chan this Kyoko-chan that…enough is enough. But she simply ate her food, saying nothing of all the things that troubled her.

.

.

"Hey Kyoko-san," Tokio casually saluted. She had come to terms with the fact that every time she would come to Saito's place either to study or cook or even chill for a while in order to avoid whatever responsibility was waiting for her at home, Kyoko would be there. She had no idea how or why, but she was.

"For the umpteenth time, drop the honorific I'm not your co-worker," she said uncaringly, waving a hand.

"Right, sorry, it keeps slipping."

"No problem." She cleared her throat and then shouted: "Hajime! Tokio is here! Don't be long."

"I'm out," came his snappish remark even before her voice was completely gone "can't even take a bath in peace anymore. Hey Tokio."

He was drying his hair with a towel, wearing plain house clothes; only then did Tokio notice how Kyoko was wearing plain house clothes, too but her own, not his that she could have borrowed. But no one wears plain house clothes outside of their home…how did she have these with her? Did she bring them just to be more comfortable?

"Well excuse me for telling you your friend is here."

He shook his head. "Is the food ready?"

"I turned the stove off when it dinged like you told me, so I guess it is."

"But did you leave it in the oven?"

"Yes, yes geez."

"Good. Let's eat."

"Yes; finally! I'm starving…Tokio, come on, I won't wait if you take forever."

He'd spoken to both but Tokio took a moment to realise she was included; she didn't know when the hell that happened but something about this scene and the two of them banter back and forth, reminded her of domestic life…and the way it felt so natural between them could drive her crazy. What was going on? Why was Kyoko taking over this house? And why was Saito letting her? That was the question that stung the most because honestly…they looked like a couple.

But they weren't a couple, right?

Yet, Kyoko apparently had her own clothes here; and she never really asked but they did seem to have grown too close for such a short amount of time. Even for Tokio, it took longer for him to warm up to. Though why she was using herself as reference she didn't know, it still felt like she lost to her. At what, she couldn't place, not quite. After all, if they were dating she should be happy for them! Right? And yet…so she sat there, barely touching the food, thinking to herself while for the rest of the evening felt like she was on autopilot. How strange.

But the strangest thing was yet to happen, but when it did, it broke the camel's back.

Saito and Tokio were sitting next to each other at school, the sole place she felt like she could be normal around Saito anymore, and they were having a lively argument. It was one of the good ones, were both strived to prove the other wrong only through scientific dogmas, drawing from memory or even searching the web. So while he was on his phone, looking for a specific article he had read once but since forgotten, his phone buzzed. And it was none other than Kyoko that had emailed him. Well okay that was normal. What wasn't normal was the subject. Tokio would have never noticed or guessed if Saito hadn't looked so mortified, it compelled her to ask about it.

"…it's gran. She's come to visit me without a warning."

She snorted with laughter, waving him off. "So what's the big deal? We won't meet today, okay."

"…how do you think I know this?" Tokio gave him a look. Turns out, it was a fair question; if his gran wanted to surprise him she wouldn't tell him! So how? Without knowing why, Tokio felt electrified, like something big was about to happen; never realising when, she went into full brace mode, waiting his answer. "Kyoko just emailed me, begging for help."

Tokio blanked. She just stood there, looking at him with the exact same expression as before…only this once, she wasn't bracing herself for the answer, no; she was prepping herself for the upcoming storm.

 _This. Is it._

"Kyoko?" she wondered out loud. "Kyoko knows this…how? She's at your apartment as we speak?"

Ah shit; he hadn't told her. Now it was him bracing himself. "Yes."

"And she's meeting your gran because your gran is at your apartment, too."

Oh fuck. "Yes." He tried to say it with the same amount of confidence but it nearly came out scared.

"Oh, I see. The same gran you don't want anyone to meet because she's too overbearing; the same one you won't introduce me to. That gran."

"Um, Tokio-"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no let me get this straight. You mean to tell me that I, who has been your friend for over two years cannot meet your grandma, but some girl you literally met three or four months ago is fair game? I don't care if she's everyone's favourite there are just some things you don't do!"

"Okay, I get it, I'm sorry that you didn't meet her before Kyo-."

"Oh this is a competition now! You think I'm competing with her?" she was, but like hell she would just admit that. "I'm not! I'm not competing with her but even if I am it's your fault! You're the one who introduced her to your gran! You are. Actually. Putting her up!"

"Look, Tokio, you don't know all the-,"

"You are actually putting her up, you're not even denying it! Oh my god!"

She actually stood from her chair, trying to make herself more intimidating since he was still sitting. "Okay, I know she's this golden girl everyone loves—Okita adores her, the girls like her and even Hijikata decided it'd be better to lie to her than taste her wrath but a line has to be drawn somewhere! Obviously, the girls are in love with her but it seems you are, too! I mean when we say with the girls oh you are so in love with her it's not literal but you're a guy right? So I guess you are literally in love with her!"

Okay, this was going too long; Saito had to intervene. "I am not in love with her." he simply said, having found his bearings.

"Yeah right! She lives in your home, wears your clothes half the times and is meeting your gran! She calls you _Hajime_ for crying out loud!"

"…that is my name, in her defence."

"But no one calls you Hajime; only _she_ calls you Hajime! So she must be special right? Only she's ever stayed over, even I haven't; and every time I went by your house she was just there. Good god why was I so blind?"

"I didn't know you were the measure," he commented obviously amused, still seated but the fact he was smirking and she herself had a similar thought not too long ago, would leave her no choice but to keep shouting, only even more embarrassed.

"Oh please! I didn't know you have had so many women over your place anyway! Like, literally, she was always there! And you don't even know her that long."

"You were always there, too then…"

"I'm different!"

Now he was really enjoying it. "How so? You're not my girlfriend or otherwise attached to me…"

"Because; because! Because I don't know, I am! I was there first!"

"So it is a competition."

"So what if it is?"

"Nothing at all; you just seem really upset."

" _But she's at your home wearing your clothes and meeting your grandmother_! It took me a year to even step a foot inside that place and gods forbid I meet your family; but no, I'm not important enough. Golden girl is though!"

"So, Tokio," she glared at the nonchalant way he spoke her name just to grab her attention. "All in all, you're jealous."

She changed ten more colours in an instant out of the shame! Oh the shame…! "No I'm not! J-jealous, why would I be jealous, I'm not jealous! I'm not jealous at all." She crossed her arms resolute, but the more time went by without him speaking a single word, just looking at her mildly amused, the redder she became. "Even if I'm jealous it's your fault!"

"You said that again."

She looked away superiorly. "Then I must be right!"

He chuckled at that and it offended her to her _core_. But when she turned to face him, he was actually smiling. "Why are you jealous then? We already established—"

"Yes I know!" She had never heard her voice so shrill before.

"Then what is it?"

"I…" the more she thought about it, the less sense it made in her head; she only knew the idea she lost to her, to anyone, concerning Saito's affections made her want to scream. But now she did scream yet nothing was really accomplished in the end and…she felt so empty and embarrassed. She felt tears welling up in her eyes. "I really don't know."

He hear the crack in her voice and his smile fell immediately. He wholeheartedly regretted his approach to this whole subject now. She was jealous and he felt happy about that because that meant she did like him, it wasn't just him. But maybe he overdid it...he _hated_ seeing her cry especially if it was because of him! So he stood up next to her, grabbed her hands who were still firmly in place and moved her to sit back down. This once though he dragged his chair very close to her and in a position he could face her. Of course she immediately looked away but he didn't do anything, just let her be.

What he did do was grow very serious and ask: "Tokio…do you like me?"

She sniffled as politely as she could but didn't look away this time; she met his gaze head on. "I think so."

"I like you, too." Saying he actually loved her would be too much for the moment, so he diminished it. But the look of absolute pleasant surprise on her face, was reward enough. "I've liked you for a while now."

Her chin dropped. He expected him to have experienced the revelation with her, this moment. But he hadn't? "What? How long?"

"Since school started give or take." Her chin fell even more, now looking truly shocked. "I just waited for a sign before telling you."

"What sign!?"

"This; that I actually have a chance. I mean, imagine if you didn't like me back. It'd be so awkward then. I preferred you either not knowing or telling you once I had an indication you actually returned the feeling. Because unrequited love is so stupid."

She chuckled. "Yes, it is." And yet, that was almost the case for both of them; none dared mention it. "…you idiot."

He smirked. "Au contraire."

She rolled her eyes, finally finding the courage to wipe them clean only to realise it was his hands that did it; she looked up through wet eyelashes. He looked…happy. And it broke her heart to think it was a rare expression for him to have. She decided to fix it. "Let's go out on a date one of these days! I'm free on Friday."

His hand never let her go; instead he cupped her cheek tenderly. "I'd love to."

There were no big declarations or fireworks; there was simply understanding. They gave each other a smile that though expressed in different ways, meant the same thing. And before both of them grew sane enough and could argue this was still a classroom and people might have been attracted to the ruckus and all sorts of other things, they allowed the moment to run with them. Leaning in, they touched each other's lips feathery lightly; it was chaste and sweet and lasted only a second.

But it was enough. The embarrassed yet larger than life look on Tokio's face told him all he needed to know; and how satisfying he mirrored her.

A noise was heard then, indicating someone had walked in. Refusing to let the moment pass just yes, neither acknowledged it. "Um, am I interrupting?"

Of all the people in the world to walk in on them, did it have to be Kenjiro? Saito dropped his hand and turned to the offending party, a little arrogant, a little pissed. "And if you are?"

"…I would leave?"

"Then leave." The scolding look Tokio gave him was unrivalled! In a better mood because of it, he conceded. After all, this may be a good thing in the end, he gets to clear a couple of things. "Don't leave; there's nothing to interrupt anymore."

That sounded strange to the bishounen. "Anymore?"

"Yeah; as in, what happened has already happened and you are not intruding. Had you come a little earlier, you would have."

"Oh; I see."

"And in case you still don't get it," he did look a bit slow in that precise moment "she's not available for you to court anymore. So don't go putting your paws all over her again."

He could have grabbed her by the waist, nuzzled her neck and hugged her middle and he still would have made half the impact his words made; Kenjiro simply raised his hands in defence and shook them gingerly. "Get it; she's taken. Good to know, have fun. Bye."

They watched him go. "I didn't peg you for the possessive sort."

"…I'm not usually."

She giggled. "Anyway; now that we've established some things can I ask why the hell she's staying over?"

"Kondo-sensei is engaged and Hijikata-sempai always has An around so they couldn't put her up and since she's had a fight with her parents and left home, someone had to do it. I was the only logical choice."

"I see."

"And she's never worn a single one of my clothes; ever," he clarified.

She smiled widely. "Okay."

"And she actually likes you and I like her, too, she's cool so please try to get along."

"I will, but she's always flirting with you…"

"Oh right, you don't know. She's Okita's soulmate." Her eyes widened. "And he is her soulmate, too. She's just playing hard to get because, she said, she's had enough of pretty boys trying to get into her pants."

"Oh! Does Okita know he's her soulmate?"

"Of course! They know, they both know; she's literally _just_ playing hard to get."

"I see…but isn't Okita jealous you're putting her up?"

As if that was a usual topic for him lately, he gave an amused snort and a very practised answer. "He is a little bit, but he'd never say it because he thinks I'd take it as disrespect, which I wouldn't but never mind."

She laughed. "Well that's nice, even if soulmates are just glorified dating options." His interest was recaptured at that. "I mean, the fact someone is willing to give a stranger a chance because their skin says so is a big deal; that's what I'd do at least, if I met my soulmate. Give them a chance and that's too much on its own. Not now of course; now I'm with you."

She wrapped her hands around his neck for a long moment. Then she stood up and headed for the door. "I'm gonna go tell the girls the news because if they hear from Kenjiro they'll never let me live it down."

"True; I should tell the guys, too."

They winked at each other and took their own ways.

Once she was safely out of earshot, Saito sighed; he hadn't told her about her tattoo…his guilt was washed away a little though, by her previous statement. He was her soulmate and she _was_ giving him a chance...so now it was all up to him.

* * *

 **A/N** : They are in deep; so deep! Now if only Saito wasn't so stubborn and actually checked his tattoo...though we all know that'll never happen. Ever. Oh well. R&R lovelies! Your feedback is much appreciated.


	4. Who's even counting what year is anymore

**A/N** : Heeelllllloooooo lovelies! Long time no see! Wow, what a RuroKen craze these past few days have been for me. So here, have my latest and last for this story chapter. It took me literally three hours to write but what with everything going on in real life it took me much, much longer to publish. Also, given I've been writing like a crazy person, and this hasn't been proof-read, expect a couple of mistakes here and there. By the way, fluff and cuteness on this chapter, don't say I didn't warn you.

Sidenote: I'm also working on something else, something special, but that'll come out after Christmas, so stay tuned!

* * *

"Introducing you two will always be the biggest mistake of my life," Saitou lamented, hand supporting his head that rested in its palm; despite his words though, his voice was quite monotonous.

His grandma was having none of that though. She took a step closer to him, whacking him on his hard head. "You always say that, Hajime!"

"Only if we are in agreement." Tokio added venomously, lording over the seated man, hands crossed and stern brow set high.

The man sighed. There was nothing he could do when they ganged up on him like this. Sitting in seiza as he was, in front of his coffee table in the middle of his living room, he opted to take a sip of his tea instead of commenting further, eyes closed. He didn't dare open them and face their troublesome wrath. In cases such as these, being silent was far more painless. Though ignoring them had its own risks such as—

"Stop playing dead Hajime!"

Another sharp pain on the top of his head spoke of his grandmother's latest action and damn did it start to sting; he was always of the impression he took the athleticism from his father's side of the family, but he never would have guessed _paternal grandmother_ to be the source of it. He battled with himself not to wince.

"Really Hajime, this is serious! You just announced you'd be moving out of your own apartment without telling anyone about it and thought the best way to do it was simply with presenting me with your keys!"

Tokio glared down with more intensity and he could feel the rise of her temperature even from a metre away; she nearly stomped her foot on the ground even. She really didn't like this development…well, he hadn't expected her to be too taken with it, but maybe this was a bit drastic—she actually called him Hajime. She never did that…not unless she was very furious – or very happy, but this was not the case –. Then again, it was simply misfortune that brought his grandmother to his apartment today when he made the big announcement. Once again, she had called on them without telling anyone about it, effectively surprising them. Both. Maybe Tokio was on her own when gran arrived, but he had no idea of her visit either and he blurted it out before he could think clearly. These two women combined could be the death of him.

"I thought being direct about it was the best way to get my point across."

"And give me a heart-attack!"

"You were not supposed to be here, gran, so that can't be only my fault."

"Listen here, you rude-!"

And the lecture started! With her bulging eyes and her ever-moving finger, pointing at all directions or jabbing him on the chest, she accentuated or embellished her standard ravings. "I raised you better than this," she would say shrilly "your father and mother are so disappointed in me when you say such things!" she'd add supposedly heartbroken and "you've no business moving out of your own home for some police training."

That one was new; it was the empty part, left that way to fit with the occasion. Now if only his otherwise logical and prudent gran could see the problem with him denying police training when he was striving to become a police officer, that'd be amazing.

"I don't think it's all that crazy but how could you not tell me before now? When were you made the offer anyway?"

"Not a week ago; and I examined all the possible options myself and this was the best one."

She pursed her lips. "Oh really? What were these other options?"

"The alternatives were I'd either leave the city or the mainland altogether and go to Hokkaido."

She had to use her poker face at the sound of the proof he was right; he relished the small victory. "Alright, you chose the best option but that still doesn't excuse the fact you didn't even mention something! You could have dropped a hint about it, didn't have to spring it on me like this."

"Yes, Hajime, that was quite irresponsible of you."

Fuelled by his gran's agreement, she kept escalating. "Not to mention you simply produced a key and basically told me to take care of your house while you're away."

"Honestly, Hajime, so uncouth."

"Grandma, please stay out of this conversation for a moment please." He said it surprisingly respectfully. "I know it was sudden and I know I could have handled it better, but I wanted it to be a surprise…of sorts. You see, the key isn't mine; I mean, these keys I gave you aren't mine, they are yours. And they aren't spare keys…I want you to move in with me."

Both women were stunned. The exact same expression of shock and awe were etched on their faces, maybe a little agape. Tokio made an effort to speak, but it didn't work, no sound was produced. She tried to convey anything else other than sheer amazement, but still failed. "You…are asking me to come live here?"

"Yes. Since I'll be away for these few months, I thought the transition and the move would go much smoother. And you can change the decoration to your liking as long as you'll be alone—it doesn't have many embellishments anyway. And if there's something I don't like, I can always change it back when I return—!"

He'd be lying if he said he didn't see her coming. Nevertheless, he didn't dodge nor did he make any effort to curb her enthusiasm as she physically jumped down to him and wrapped her hands around him lovingly. She squeezed as much as she could and kissed him everywhere she could find that was appropriate.

"Oh my god; I'm so happy! And you were actually listening that time!"

"…you could have picked a better timing than three in the morning, but I always listen."

That was it, she was melting. Finally letting go for a second, she really looked at him to see her own happiness in his face, despite the lack of excitement. "I really, really love you."

"I love you, too."

"Oh, dear! My heart s beating so fast!" oh right, there was grandma there, he'd almost forgotten about her. Almost. "My little Hajime is finally getting married."

At the slight panic on both young people's faces, the old woman scoffed and waved them off; at least they found solace in one another being equally terrified of the prospect. They were only twenty years old after all and they were both still studying…

Tokio was the first to intervene though. "Gran, we'll just be moving in together; no grand promises yet."

"And even that won't really happen till my training is over; I'll only be allowed one exit a week tops."

"Yes but she already calls me gran and neither of you find it odd so we'll see who's right in three years."

Tokio was embarrassed; he felt an odd mixture of embarrassment yet pride. So what she said was true, but that didn't mean they had decided to spend the rest of their lives together…after all, who knew Saitou wouldn't change his mind about the whole soulmate business and start looking for _the one_? Or that he wouldn't meet his soulmate in those barracks, in those few months he'd be spending away and decide to leave her? On the other hand, Saitou knowing he was her soulmate didn't relieve him much seeing she didn't put much stock in it herself. So who knew she wouldn't up and leave him for some mysterious stranger while he was away?

The answer was, no one knew. Yet neither treated that as a real possibility at the same time. Despite their insecurities, they knew that was all that was, plain insecurity. So they just went on, being with each other, day in day out. Saitou did fear she might get too mad once she found out about her soulmate and how he knew and didn't tell her, but he figured leaving him would never be an option. She would never overreact in that way.

So he coughed. Clearing his throat as a pretext, Tokio still in arms reach but not in them, he turned to his relative with importance. "Grandma, I appreciate your visit—"

"Ah, don't worry darling, I'm leaving. I did what I wanted, I had a chat with Tokio and you just announced all this to me; I'm more than satisfied. Have a nice night my dearies."

She actually kissed Tokio goodbye, something she had never done before, not to her own grandson, and left them alone. The short but deafening silence that followed enabled both adults to clear the noise in their heads and focus only on what they wanted to say or do in this moment. A small grin graced both their lips, but it was Saitou who spoke first.

"Come to think of it, I'm craving some omurice."

"Oh?" Those words always carried another meaning, making her grin wider. "You want me to fix one for you now? Or after?"

Conveniently placed still in arms' reach, he only had to lean in to kiss her. "After…" he murmured as he littered her neck and back with small pecks. She giggled, ticklish and electrified.

.

.

It had been two months since Saitou had moved out of his own apartment and to the barracks; two months since Tokio moved in. She had already felt relatively at home even before this, but now, with her own things and some of her furniture everywhere, it truly was her home. And she always felt comfortable.

But not today; this day she was highly uncomfortable. Saitou was coming back from the barracks for the third time only this once, she knew something she didn't before. And that was what put her on such edge. After all, she found out no small thing. It wasn't even bad, all things considered, it was just a touchy subject for this particular man. How would _he_ take it? Her own reaction was relatively normal: surprise, happiness; an odd sense of pride in herself, a sense of achievement. She felt worthy, too. She wanted to be displeased, but the news that she chose correctly were only gratifying, like a big "in your face" to Tama who would always say things like "why don't you leave Saitou and find your real soulmate?"

Speaking of whom, boy was that man a good detective—or he was bound to be! The moment he walked in and looked at her, he knew. There was something wrong with Tokio. Was it her anxiety? Was it the fear in her eyes? No matter what, despite her initial reaction of joy upon seeing him again after two weeks of absence, hugs and kisses, she grew smaller than usual. Withdrawn, even. He immediately knew something was up.

But he figured she'd tell him sooner or later, especially over lunch. So they sat down at the table right opposite each other – he never mentioned how the house looked more and more like Tokio's and not his – and waited for the food to be served.

"Oh!" Pleasant surprise coloured his voice when he saw the food. "I've been craving homemade curry and curry buns for days; thank you."

Her eyes shone a weird colour. " _Seven_ days, right?"

He looked uncaring, but the more he thought about it…she was right. "Yes, indeed; how did you know?"

"Well…that would first require me making an announcement:" she took a deep breath and straightened her back "Saitou Hajime you are my soulmate."

Oh no; he wasn't reacting. He was simply staring at her, asking for more information. She licked her lips nervously. "Seven days ago I visited my mum. She told me my tattoo changed suddenly, despite being stuck on one thing for so long; when I looked at it, it said: I really wanna eat some curry buns right now." She chuckled. "I thought it was funny at first…and then I thought, but why won't he eat any? And then I remembered you telling me: can you believe we don't have any decent curry buns at the barracks? And then I thought…what if it was your thoughts? Then I can make sure." She shrugged. "So I made you curry and curry buns and waited for your reaction. And it turned out…I was right! You…are my soulmate."

A long silence followed her statement, one that made her depressed. He wasn't reacting at all, what was going on? Wasn't he super opposed to soulmates and stuff? Why wasn't he annoyed? But if he loved her enough to not care why didn't he even crack one of his usual smirks? Why was he acting so out of character? Oh no. oh no…did he…did he have an announcement of his own about his own tattoo? Was he going to tell her he met a beautiful instructor or cadet-?

"I knew it." Was all he said. It was spoken heavily, with significance.

Okay. That was not the reaction she expected. "Say what?"

"I knew I was your soulmate; I figured it out a long time ago."

She blanked. "…what? How?"

"I accidentally looked at your neck and my eyes fell directly at the writing. And you can imagine my surprise of looking at my own thoughts scribbled on your neck."

She remained silent yet curious, looking at him, urging him to go on. He sighed. This was all or nothing.

"But I was…not comfortable telling you; so I waited. And waited. And I asked you to move in with me before I told you because I didn't want that to affect your decision. I know I made up my mind. I want _you_. But I really don't care about my tattoo. You do, even if a little bit. But moving in with someone is a big deal so you wouldn't say yes unless you really thought about our future. I held back and didn't say it. Well one thing led to other and I never quite found the right time, so…here we are."

"You mean to tell me, all this time, you knew and you said nothing at all? You just let me worry about this for so long for no reason whatsoever?" her voice increased both in volume and speed the more she talked. "I made all sorts of theories in my head—for these seven days I nearly died worrying about nothing! And you mean to tell me _you knew all along_?"

"…seven days to four years is really nothing."

Her mouth hang; he turned his eyes away. Had he really just confessed that?

"Four years?" hell, he had. What was it with this woman? He could never control what came out of his mouth around her—and her alone. "You've known for four entire years? And yet still said nothing! How could you keep it a secret for so long? To be honest I'm kind of impressed! That's too long. You can definitely keep a secret. Wow, well done. I just wished it wasn't from me."

He sighed.

"You must understand, it was all out of my concern; wasn't concern what drove you crazy, too? I simply cared too much about how you'd react and apparently for no big reason. You never held these things in high regard but I know what your friends tell you, I've heard them, even if they didn't mean to. They told you to leave me and find your soulmate countless times. I get it, that's our culture, our society; and they only do it because they love you and not because they don't like me. But choosing me as the easy way out because "look, he's my soulmate" would go against everything I stand for. So I had to know I wasn't the easy way out."

"What if _you_ find your soulmate? What if it isn't me? Would that change your choice?"

"…no, it really wouldn't."

"Are you sure?" The now-you're-joking look was all it took. "What if I turn out to be your soulmate?"

"…you'll be reassured, I guess."

"Oh? Still no difference to you?"

"No. like I said, I chose you; if it turns out fate or what not always wanted me to choose you, big deal. It was still my decision."

She chuckled. "You are so annoyingly complicated yet straightforward at the same time." She offered her hand and he took it. "I should be shouting at you but I don't wanna; not when you'll be leaving tomorrow again. You come back though and see what happens. I'll be mad at you for days."

"We'll still have only one bed, so I don't worry."

"I'll sleep on the couch."

"I won't let you."

She pursed her lips amused. " _You_ 'll sleep on the couch."

"I don't fit, sorry."

She clicked her tongue, despite not being mad at all. "Asshole." He graced her with one of his most sincere smiles and that made her smile herself. "You come back first and we'll see about the bed." Because that was all they both wanted. They could live like a real couple.

.

.

"Um…honey, do pregnant women bleed?"

Saitou froze in his spot, pencil hovering over his page. Her voice was more strained and louder than usual in order to be heard from behind the bathroom door and the walls, so he couldn't understand her tone. The fact he couldn't see her face was also killing him and the bad feeling remained, coupled with the actual content of her words. It took no time for him to stand from his chair, bypass the desk and exit the bedroom to stand behind the bathroom door, ear glued to it.

"Tokio what's wrong?"

"I'm bleeding." His heart stopped for a second. "I'm bleeding a little heavily for a period but it definitely looks like it. Is that normal?"

"No it isn't."

He spoke as calmly as possible but didn't know how calm he really was because his heart was beating way too fast, emotions threatening to overcome him. "I'm calling the doctor as we speak; come out as soon as you can."

They were ready to leave in five minutes. They chose the doctor through his grandma who had connections everywhere—a friend or their kid or their grandkid. So now, the doctor monitoring Tokio's unexpected pregnancy was the thirty year old half-Japanese half-British Tomoda Barnes. The rides to the doctor were always lively and fun, or full of arguing…but now it was silent. So silent, it felt eerie. They barely looked at each other for the entire time, too, simply stealing glances.

The air of uneasiness and worry caught even the doctor's eye that had advised them to come immediately. When Saitou had called he was on his break but the news alerted him enough to disregard it and advise them to hurry to his practise. And half an hour later, Tokio was being examined, looking all the things she felt: worried, breathless, anxious and scared. Saitou remained positively expressionless but neither Tokio nor the doctor blamed him for they knew he did it lest he gave people more reason to worry. Especially Tokio.

After another grim half hour waiting in the white, sterile room, the results were finally in.

"I have some bad news for you," the doctor said, facing both from behind his desk. His fingers lay interwoven on his clipboard, resting on said desk. "I'm afraid…you're no longer pregnant."

He said it and the moment his words left his lips their fears became real. Both people knew that would be the verdict, they knew it in their hearts. They could feel it in the atmosphere around them, even before the results were finalised. They could hear it in the doctor's voice and his hesitance to reassure them all would be well; they could see it in the thin lines that started forming on his forehead the more time passed. And Saitou heard it in that small pause he made when he first told him just before he instructed him to bring her over immediately.

And both people's hearts cracked under the pressure that finally became the truth. Tokio grabbed Saitou's hand and squeezed; Saitou kissed her forehead and tears threatened to spill from his eyes.

"I know this pregnancy wasn't planned and I know you were very worried about how it affected everything, but I also know you both became very accustomed to the idea for these past two months and had started genuinely caring for this person that was to be born…so I won't tell you that that's one thing less to worry about. Because it hurts. And it will hurt."

They nodded at his words; somehow, his deep voice and his warm brown eyes made it better. He was a progressive man and he never judged; he only supported. So they knew his sentiments were honest and that's what comforted them both.

"All I can do is offer you advice on how to prevent it from happening again in the future."

"Yes, how did it happen now anyway?" Tokio was the first one to ask, anger and sadness almost palpable.

The doctor smiled gently at both, but looked at Tokio. "…you were too worried about it. Many times psychological effects travel to the body. And your levels of anxiety were just too much. So you aborted."

Tokio widened her eyes, desperate. The news devastated her! That was literally the last thing she wanted to hear, that she was responsible. But she did and she was and it was all her fault, oh lord! How could she?

"But…I mean, I know I was worrying about my parents and my studies and how this affected us," she turned to Saitou for that part alone, always talking fast "and yes everyone told me to take it easy which only made things worse because not one of those people offered a way to do that, but come on! I mean…I mean…I wanted this. I might have felt a little guilty for wanting it and being happy about it because it created more problems than it solved but…I wanted this."

Her tears were falling freely, but she did not register them; they came so naturally not even her expression changed. It remained the same desperate-to-be-believed yet guilty face she had from the moment she heard. "I didn't want this to happen, I…!"

"I know you didn't," Saitou reassured and kissed her forehead again; it took a lot out of him to keep his voice from cracking. "I know. I'm sad, too."

The doctor had never seen Saitou so expressive or affectionate before, kissing her, talking to her so kindly. He wrapped both hands around her, enveloping in a larger-than-life hug as she proceeded to sob and cry in his shirt. And just like that, he knew they'd pull through. Couples that went through something like that and weren't married, in his experience, usually broke apart. But these two, Tomoda felt they would make it. He could see it in the way each supported the other while at the same time not trivialising the other's grief.

The doctor smiled at them and let them have their moment. Once they were finished, he cleared his throat. "So, my advice to you, both of you, is…to relax. Next time something like this happens, planned or not, seek more emotional help or be more honest with each other. I believe the lady tried to keep too many things inside and ended up exploding. I don't know if your attitude or someone else's drove her to that or that's just what she does, but if you don't want this happening again, please be more considerate of your feelings."

"Yes, doctor." They chorused.

"Splendid."

"Oh, we should get going!" Tokio was the first to realise. "I'm sure you have more appointments and more women to look at…we should pay you, too."

"Never mind the fee, we'll talk about it later. Just go and have this day to yourselves. Together. Or whatever, just take a personal day." They nodded; they had every intention of doing so. "Have a nice day."

"Thank you doctor."

They decided what they wanted to do was go back home and just do nothing; simply lie or sit next to the other, enjoying each other's presence. And Saitou's presence alone was discreet yet loud. When he was there, she knew it, she could feel it. Maybe it had to do with the fact they were still living in his apartment, but when he wasn't around there was a sort of feeling of something missing. Even in the car, if she drove alone it was way too lonely. She had come to expect his presence and it was sort of maddening.

Despite the fact none spoke a word in the entire ride back home, neither minded much for they had their thoughts to put in order. Saitou in particular had made a big discovery and he was trying to sort through the clutter to find the best timing and most appropriate way of telling Tokio about it.

Tokio on the other hand was making up theories as she went along. Saitou would hate her; he didn't hate her now but as time passed, she was certain he would hate her for losing their child. It was entirely her fault, the doctor said so. Slowly yet steadily, it would lead to resentment and so on so forth till he could no longer bear look at her…unless she did this right. So once they got home, she would have to apologise in the best way possible. Favourite food, favourite show, do his favours in general would be good. No fighting, too. And if he wanted to be alone for a little while that was okay, even if she didn't want to be alone with herself. She'd persevere. She just didn't want to lose him, too. Definitely not today.

But she had the biggest fright of her life the moment they stepped inside the house and settled down. She plopped down on the couch, feeling everything heavy: feet, head, and heart…she sighed and covered her eyes with her hand. She had really started liking the idea of a child, even if she wasn't prepared for it. Sure, she had her inhibitions and her problems, but she had finally warmed up to the idea, to the concept, to the other existence in her gut. But now it was gone and it left a hole she had no idea could ever exist within a person and the last thing she wanted was Saitou leaving her, too and it all became a foul circle in her head…! Until Saitou broke the silence.

"Hey," he said and his voice sounded hoarse. She knew him too well to know that that tone meant what he was about to say was too raw, too emotional. It was well thought-out but still too emotional. "I want to ask you something." She instantly became defensive, literally ready to fight. "I don't want you to consider this as emotional drivel because it isn't, I have given much thought to it."

She knew, oh how she knew, he always thought of everything. And oh how she knew this was inevitable. That was it. He was breaking up with her! He was going to ask her to leave, move out, once her pain and her hurt was over. He was a good man and he would offer her all the help she needed, she was certain. But this whole situation already made him too bitter and he was about to put an end to it. She just knew.

Finally, he turned to look at her and she could see his expression…she was startled. If he was planning on leaving her, he would look more solemn. Yet now he was looking…distracted? Casual? She couldn't quite place it. Lowering her defences, she allowed her curiosity to take over. "Out with it then, what is it?"

"Let's get married." Stop; hold; repeat. He said what now? "I knew you wouldn't like it…"

She didn't acknowledge the second sentence, just the first. "You want to get married?"

"Yes; I just proposed didn't I?"

"…really? Wow! I thought you were about to give me the speech of why you want to leave me…!"

He was affronted by her statement yet oddly thankful she trusted him enough to tell him the unabridged truth. Her relief was too much however; it both wounded his heart and caused his concern. "Why would I leave you? I love you; you don't leave the person you love when they need you the most. And I believe you love me enough to be there for me now that I need you, too."

"Of course I will!"

"Then why wouldn't I be? Why should I leave you…?"

Somewhere between offended and curious, his question reached deep within her. She stared for a long time. "Because it's my fault," she admitted in the end and when she did, she felt unprecedented weight lift from her shoulders. "I am to blame for losing this baby and you and I both know that you were much more open to the idea of a child than I was. I feared you'd blame me for doing it on purpose, no matter what I or you said, you'd still hold on to that in your heart and hate me because of it…"

He looked at her solemn. Then, he leaned down and enveloped her in another perfect hug, keeping her there till she melded with him. "If that was the case, I'd never say otherwise; I know you didn't do this on purpose. If anything, you're the one hurting the most right now. After all, it grew inside you." She nodded absently. "I love you Tokio. And what this ordeal made me think wasn't only how it pained me to know we lost a child but how we could always try again more successfully in the future." She was rendered immobile at that. "Realising…I already think about us like that, as if we're married."

There was a long pause from both people. He relaxed his hug but never let her go; she came to look at him yet never untangled herself. "All I'm saying is, I might have been overly excited with the idea I get to have a family of my own, but now I came to realise I was also excited that it was you who would be the driving force behind it. And if it didn't happen now, it can always happen in the future. Because you're every bit the family I can hope for and more…I do not simply want a family, I want it to be with you. No one else will do, ever again. So please accept my feelings to be true, Tokio and consider you answer accordingl-"

"Yes!"

Tears spilled from her eyes once more, though this once it was out of pure relief and elation. Gone were the guilt she might have caused the death of her own child on purpose subconsciously; even if it returned though, she knew she could battle it out because she'd have his help, Saitou's. And everyone knew if someone could defeat anything thrown at him that was him. Crying and laughing, laughing and crying, she threw her arms around his neck and tackled him! She lay on top of him on the sofa, kissing and nuzzling, feeling inconceivably happy. This day was a sad day; but this day was a happy day. This day would forever be the biggest emotional rollercoaster in her life and she loved every second of it!

And she loved it all the more, knowing, seeing, the same sentiments expressed on her as of now fiancé's rarely unreserved face. Whether she was his soulmate or not, she no longer cared. If despite all that happened, he still loved her so much, she could see nothing getting between them in the future.

Now there was only relaying the news to everyone. "But imagine how they'll take it," she said out of the blue, still lying on top of him "hey mom, just wanted to let you know I'm getting married. Oh the baby? No, sadly we lost it. But we're getting married anyway. UGH gran will be devastated!"

"Don't worry; she'll still find the right thing to focus on. She was the one who taught me how to do it."

"Hajime…" He was being such a good little soldier, carrying all the burden for her, not allowing his own anguish to show. But he needed to get it out or it would kill him, she knew. "Hajime, you can look sad, too you know. I mean, if that's what you want."

His face broke into an unprecedented expression of loss yet determination and he smiled despite of it all. "It is what I want; I'll get there eventually. For now…just lie here like this. It helps."

"As you wish."

He was always discreet, both in his pain and in his joy; now was no exception. Her presence alone worked wonders! He put his chin on his head and shut his eyes. "Promise me you'll always be this honest with me, no matter what."

"…I promise."

"And promise me if I ever do anything to scare or disappoint you, you won't keep it in and wait till it becomes too much to tell me."

That was actually a bad habit of hers. "I promise I'll try."

"And promise me that next time you'll be more open with me about your problems…"

They both knew he meant a second pregnancy and not simply everyday life problems and both were okay with it. "I will."

"And in turn, I promise I'll do all in my power to not disappoint or scare you again; and I'll make sure you won't feel the need to keep things inside and build up for no reason."

"Thank you Hajime."

"…no need to thank me, idiot."

And just like that, they were back to normal. Well, normal was a big word. Not many twenty-one year olds went through what they did and then come out married…but still.

.

.

Tokio felt her husband get up from their bed in the middle of the night. At first she wasn't alarmed; that man had weird sleeping patterns and unless he was dead on his feet, he would get up to have a glass of water, go to the bathroom or even work on a case if he had an epiphany. So a short absence wasn't the problem. A lengthy one was though. Maybe it was her imagination or maybe it was the fact she happened to be half-awake when he left her side, fell asleep then woke up again and found his side still empty, but now she was starting to feel anxious. Where was Saitou?

She looked at her clock; it read three am. Well shit, it was too late. Slowly, carefully, she rose from her bed, using the makeshift device Saitou set up as a helping hand. She was three days away from being eight months pregnant and her stomach was huge, not allowing for many manoeuvres, especially without help. Still, she stood, left the warmth of her bed and bedroom and walked to the closest room: the study. Yet no sign of him in there as no lights were turned on and indeed, he wasn't in when she looked inside.

Next stop was the toilet; empty. She started worrying. Where was he? Her mind immediately screamed _kitchen_ so she headed there, clumsily descending the small staircase. This wasn't as small as Saitou's previous apartment and the bedroom and kitchen didn't connect—she had to walk the hallway, reach the stairs and after descending them, walk through the living room to reach the last room that was the kitchen. Seeing the living room also empty and untouched as she traversed it, her heart now really pounded in her chest.

Where was her husband? What with all the rumours going on about how the gangs knew Saitou was the executive member of the task force who took them down and the gang-wars reaching their climax, she was legitimately scared about him. And when she came across the equally empty kitchen, she finally allowed herself a moment to freak out.

She rushed for the phone and called his cell; she waited…and heard it ring somewhere upstairs. Perfect. Her worry reaching dangerous levels, she dialled his office number, the one he used at work, as her last shred of calm…but when she heard his casual monotone greeting, she was finally at ease.

"You forgot your cell at home…! What do you mean you know!? You were gone for so long and I was so worried you might have been hurt with all the gang things going on!" She listened to him saying how he had just received an urgent call from work and she could have _murdered him_ for making her worry like that. "Whatever happened to notes? Whatever happened to waking me up and telling me!? You know the threat is real as you barely let me out of the house and then turn around and do this? I even lost track of time because-…! Oh if it about that case then I guess I could have a heart attack for free. Tch, fine, I'll just go back to sleep." His reply didn't satisfy her but she decided him being fine was enough so she managed to squeeze out a tired "Be back soon; I love you."

He replied the same but advised her to call him immediately if anything happens. "Yes, yes, I will; give my regards to that Himura kid you finally caught."

.

.

There was ringing; the landline! Tokio ran to the small device in a hurry, picking it up before it woke up her just-fallen-asleep baby. Having a baby that never sleeps and finally getting it there, she'd do anything not to disturb him and god knew her Satori was a light sleeper. Even from the very young age of seven months, she knew he had taken after her…sadly. And what with Saitou taking a bath, she was the only one available to either stop him from waking or putting him back to sleep.

"Saitou household, this is Tokio. Ah! Tama-chan! I haven't heard you for a while, how are you? How have you been?" Silence. "Oh my god, Chiyo, you, too! Oh, patch An through, too then, we'll all have a common conversation."

She felt a tug on her hand; she looked down to see her four year old daughter look at her pleadingly. "Momo, I'm bored."

"Hold on a second girls; Hina-chan, mum is on the phone with her friends whom she hasn't heard from for a while. Could you maybe wait till I'm finished?"

"But I'm bored."

Suddenly she heard something on the phone that made her eyes bulge! "Tama-tan don't do it! Divorce is serious business! Just, just hold on a moment; Hina-chan, let's go—oh!" She heard the bathroom door opening. "Go to papa and do something together! Mommy has to take this call."

"Ok!"

With a new found interest – papa – she walked up the stairs with a skip in her step; her pig tails bounced with her every step, following her flowy dress. She saw her dad moving to open the bedroom door, towel on his hips and neck. "Papa! Momo said to come to you! She's on the phone and can't play with me."

"Mmm, who called?" he asked distracted, as he rubbed his scalp with the towel.

"Mom called her Tama-tan; and said something about a divorce."

Saitou's mouth nearly hang at those news; Tama was getting a divorce—that Tama? He shook his head; maybe Hina had misheard or maybe she was really getting one, but something was definitely going on because his daughter never lied, he taught her that himself.

"Do you know what a divorce is?" he asked her.

"No, but I'm guessing something bad because Momo sounded upset."

Oh. So it was true. Wow, he's ask her later. "Then we should let mommy talk with her about it, right? Come on, let's go do something together. Papa'll get dressed and you can comb my hair later."

"Yeees! I love that! Even if papa's hair are short, they are still hair."

He chuckled. "I'm sorry Hina, Papa tried to let his hair grow once, but mommy hated it." the little girl giggled and he smiled. She might be his spitting image, but her behaviour was far from it. Not that he minded. He opened his door. "So, when I tell you, you count to twenty, and when you're done knock on papa's door."

She nodded excitedly and waited for him to close the door. When she heard "okay, start now!" she began: "One, two…"

"Nineteen-!"

But the door opened before she could finish. "I'm out; I made it before you finished," he said triumphantly and the girl pouted. She even crossed her hands.

"No fair; I lost count at some point and started over."

He took her in his arms and planted a kiss on her forehead. "We can count together to make sure you do it properly while you comb papa's hair, how about it?"

"Yeah, that's nice."

He sat on the floor while his daughter was on her tiptoes, just so she could reach him. Yet she was bound to be tall he knew for already, she was taller than all of her peers. As the brush went up and down his head, sometimes rougher than needed or very clumsily, he heard his daughter's giggle once more.

"What is it?" he inquired curious.

"Papa's tattoo is very funny. And strange!"

Oh no; this was a tricky territory. Yet at the same time, he knew he couldn't just ignore his daughter, especially when she sounded so committed. "…what do you mean, strange?"

"Well, Momo's tattoo changes to what Papa thinks but Papa's tattoo keeps changing anyway."

"…how?"

"Now it reads all zeroes, but when Momo's not home it has numbers and just like a clock, it changes every second!"

Saitou froze; his daughter's naivety and honesty just told him a truth he never expected to hear and certainly not this way. But he did; his timer was always counting down…to the moment he met his wife? If what Hina said was true then his timer always ran; it ran to reach her, to meet her again. How…fitting, he realised. He did feel like every big moment of his life was somehow sure to happen and the truth of the matter was simply revealed to him, he never had a big discovery, simple, small realisations. As if they were bound to happen anyway, the only difference was when.

"Papa?"

"Yes Hina," he finally replied.

"Papa you went all quiet!"

"…papa was surprised; you see, you're the only person to ever tell me about that."

"Oh." A heavy silence took over and he felt like something was building up; had she not kept combing his hair, he'd have turned.

"What is it?"

"Did I do something wrong, telling you about it?"

An unfathomable warmth spread through him and he couldn't help but turn around in the end and hug his daughter. "You did nothing wrong. If I didn't want you to tell me, I wouldn't have asked you. Alright?"

"Alright."

"So smile for papa now."

She cracked her modest grin and Saitou felt something constricting from all the cuteness! He was not build for this…! So he messed her hair, turned around again and waited for her to continue with her brushing.

"Aaaaah, now my hair are messy, too!"

"Mine first."

"No fair, papa!"

Who would have thought that he'd finally get to know why and how his timer worked at thirty years of age, by his first and oldest child, his cute little Hina-chan? Thinking about it, he could imagine no better person to make the announcement. Huh; come to think of it, maybe he should tell Tokio, too. She'd be pleasantly surprised by it…if she doesn't already know. Bet she did; Okita did, too and just kept quiet. Heh, what do you know…!

* * *

 **A/N** : For the second to last part, be notified it's a tie-in to the Soulmates one shot. That's all.

Hope you liked it everyone! Be sure to review and/or favourite or even message me if you so desire! See you again later~~~


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